Page 15

She might have told them I left with Greg willingly.

Maybe that was the plan.

“I went back after everyone was asleep,” I say. “I took my backpack, Addy’s letters, and all the money I had. Then I left Tennessee.”

“At sixteen,” Sean says.

I nod.

“How did you survive?”

“Diners, mostly. I asked the owners if I could bake for them at night in exchange for food and somewhere to sleep.”

Taylor looks at Arthur. “You had to mention the cinnamon rolls.”

Arthur wipes a hand over his face. His eyes are wet.

“A woman named Sally helped me,” I continue. “She owned a diner. She let me sleep in the storeroom after I told her what happened. She bought the wig, glasses, contacts, and clothes.”

“Is that why you’re dressed like this?” Sean asks.

“Sally said people would remember what I looked like.”

“Was she right?”

“I don’t know.”

“I stayed with her for two months. Then I saw Greg drive past the diner with two men.”

“Did he see you?”

“I don’t think so. I left that night.”

Sean sits back, but there is nothing relaxed about him.

“How did you find me?”

“I read one of Addy’s letters after I left Sally. It gave me your name and said you were somewhere in Nevada.”

“Did it say how Addy knew that?”

“No. I haven’t read all the letters yet.”

“How did you travel?”

“Walking. Buses when I had enough money. Sometimes people gave me rides.”

Four expressions harden at once.

“You hitchhiked across the country?” Sean asks.

“I was careful.”

“There is no careful way for a sixteen-year-old girl to hitchhike across the country.”

“I didn’t have a lot of choices. I was almost seventeen.”

His anger disappears as quickly as it came.