Nothing stopped us. I hit the city limits and kept going, driving south, driving fast, putting distance between us and all those bastards. My phone rang, and I knew it’d be Vincent, calling to threaten me. Amber’s phone rang next, but I wouldn’t let her answer. It would be Mona, begging her to come back, promising her safety.
“Can’t risk it,” I said.
Amber looked sad, but she only nodded and sent the call to voicemail.
We drove for an hour, for two hours, until the sun started to rise. I pulled off into a rest stop somewhere in in Maryland and we sat on the hood of the car drinking bad coffee and watching cars shoot past down on the freeway.
“Where should we go?” she asked quietly.
“Anywhere you want. Florida maybe? How about Baton Rouge?”
“Never been anywhere before,” she admitted.
“Let’s go somewhere fun then. How about an island?”
She laughed. “Sure, an island. I’d like that.”
“Ever been to Hawaii?”
“We can’t go to Hawaii. It’s way too far.”
“We’ll drive to California, take our time, stay in fun spots. Drive a few hours a day, spend the rest of our time in motels.”
“That might not be so bad.” She leaned her head on my shoulder.
“Not so bad? Girl, I’ll make you glad you ran away.”
“I know you will. You already did.”
I kissed her, held it for a second, then hugged her close. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
We finished our coffee then got back in the car. We sat there and looked at each other, and I couldn’t stop smiling, and she beamed back, and I kissed her one more time before I pulled out and began to drive.
23
Amber
Two Years Later
I stretched my legs out and sipped gorgeous black coffee as I watched the sky turn pink, then purple, then blue. The sun rose above the palms and the damp leaves from the night before began to plump and raise themselves up again as the water evaporated into the sky. Willowy white clouds drifted along like nothing and I smiled like a moron as I curled my legs beneath me on the padded outdoor couch.
Trees stretched out beyond our back deck down into a short valley. I could smell and hear the ocean even though I couldn’t quite see it from my perch. That was fine with me, although Ren kept promising he’d build me a raised lighthouse one of these days so I could climb up and look at the waves whenever I wanted.
That didn’t matter to me. We’d been in paradise for a year now after a year of driving across the country. I experienced more in that year, felt more alive and happier than I ever had, and Ren stuck by my side every second of every day. When we finally reached Hawaii, we drove around, staying in motels, living on the beach, until one afternoon three months into our time on the island, he appeared with a deed in one hand and a bunch of keys in the other.
My little paradise. That’s what he called it. And he was right: it was our little paradise.
“Good sunrise this morning.” I looked over my shoulder, back toward the sliding doors. Ren stepped out, shirtless and beautiful. He stretched and his tan body and incredible muscles made my heart flutter.
“Really good,” I said. “But they always seem to be perfect out here.”
He laughed. “I wonder why.” He walked over, kissed me, then flopped down and put my feet in his lap. He massaged my heel and instep absently as he looked at the deck, then at the forest beyond. “I was thinking about trying something today.”
“Yeah? You going to take up surfing?”
He gave me a look. “I’ll always be a Philly boy at heart.”
“Philly boys can surf.”
“No, we really can’t.” He leaned over and kissed me, then resumed massaging my feet. “I was thinking about getting a job.”
I snorted. “Really?”
“Really,” he said, completely serious.
I sat up straight, taking my feet away. “You’re not joking?”
“Not at all. We still have a good amount of money left, but it won’t last forever. I met this guy the other day that was talking about needing a new salesman for the islands.”
“Oh, god. You, in sales?”
“I’d be good at it. Shit, being a thief is about the same as being in sales.”
I touched his face, frowning. “Is that what you really want?”
“No, what I really want is to rob every damn bank nearby, but that wouldn’t really be conducive to a good life. And anyway, I found this in the trash.” He reached into his pocket and took out a pregnancy test.
I stared at it, my heart doing wild hammers in my chest. “I was going to tell you.”
“I know you were.”
“I realized a week ago… I took the test last Thursday… I just…” I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t want to ruin this idyllic life we’d created, but I wanted to have his baby and wanted to be pregnant and wanted to start a family more than anything else in the world. We hadn’t been very careful in terms of birth control, and it just happened.