Run Away Baby

“What’s wrong?” she asked him.

“Nothing.”

“You’ll still help me come up with a plan and make this actually happen, right?” she said.

“Yeah,” he said. He looked down at his burger, picked it up like he was going to take a bite, and set it back down. They were sitting in a little restaurant on the edge of town. A tiny diner. Someplace Abby had never been before, and that Charlie said he’d never been either. People stopping in together once were forgettable, but a regular bringing in a stranger was memorable. It seemed that they were being properly ignored by the waitresses, but still, Abby couldn’t relax.

She was about to go to the cottage. She hadn’t been there for over two weeks, since she’d been lying in bed, healing that whole time. She’d been out of touch with Charlie, constantly afraid he was going to try to find her. Fortunately, Danielle at the law office had told him that she was at a spa when he’d riskily inquired about her whereabouts.

“So, you’ve really been at a spa?” he asked for the third time.

“Yes,” she said. “Do you want to try this?” she asked, offering him a bite of her sandwich.

“No thanks. You were there that entire time?”

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t you tell me you were going away?”

“Randall surprised me with it at the last minute and I didn’t see any way I could let you know.”

“Where were you again?”

“Arizona.”

“You couldn’t call me from the airport or something?”

“Sorry.”

“I was really worried about you. I thought maybe he’d done something to you, or maybe you’d decided to go off and disappear on you own, without involving me. I had no idea what was going on.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know how to reach you without getting caught. Randall’s friend sent his wife too, and she was pretty much my chaperone. I never had a moment alone.”

“Okay,” he said. “But if anything like that ever happens again, you need to find a way to let me know what’s going on.”

“It won’t happen again because I’ll be gone from Randall soon,” Abby said.

“When can we see each other again? Really see each other.”

“Like I told you, Randall’s amping up my surveillance...”

Charlie sighed. “And your survivalist classes are over now, so you won’t have that as an excuse.”

“Yeah,” said Abby. “I don’t know what we’re going to do. I guess we’ll see each other at the law office. At least there’s that.”

“What made him get so much more suspicious all of a sudden?”

“It’s nothing new. If anything, he’d gotten a little lazy because he was busy with work, and now that his project is over he’s back on track, watching me like he used to.”

“Your bill,” said their waitress, slapping it down on the table.

“I got it,” Charlie said, picking it up and wiping it off with a napkin. The waitress had planted it right in a puddle of ketchup.

“Thank you,” Abby said.

“It’s no big deal.” He took out a credit card and set it on the little plastic tray. It occurred to Abby then that she had no idea what Charlie’s last name was. It was far too late in their relationship for her to ask. She tried to discreetly take a look at the card without him noticing, but the waitress reappeared and snatched it back up.

Charlie wasn’t done with his meal. He kept piling cold fries in his mouth. Abby looked at the ice cream sundae menu, waiting for the waitress to return.