Sheila…
Sheila liked trains.She really liked trains.
They had a soothing rhythm to their motion.
There was food available if she wanted it.
Mostly there was more room in the seats on a train than on a bus.
She hadn’t known that. On the train, she’d had a big table all her own. For most of the trip from Atlanta to New York City, she’d populated it with her stuff, then either slept or played games on her computer.
It had been fun. Until it hadn’t been, any more.
Tabitha had found her again, and the adventure Sheila had been enjoying, suddenly lost its luster.
Sheila, pondering how Tabitha had known she was on a train, remembered a lady who had sat across the aisle from her. She’d seemed…regular. Normal.
But Sheila knew her instinct for determining good from bad in people wasn’t exactly on point. Even though she’d worked hard over the past few years to look for, and pay more attentionto personal cues—even going so far as to take classes on-line to help her determine what facial features were denoting—she knew she still wasn’t always accurate.
Still, she’d felt that the woman across from her had been overly curious about everyone in the carriage, herself included. The lady had not only been checking out all the passengers, she’d tried to engage numerous people in chatter.
Sheila hadn’t wanted any part of that, so hadn’t looked up from her gaming. But a few of the people in the car spoke to the woman briefly, until eventually she’d given up on whatever social agenda she had.
Luckily, the woman had gotten off the train in DC, so there’d no longer been a need to try and ignore her, but…
Shortly thereafter, Tabitha had appeared in Sheila’s game-play.
Had nosy-lady seen Tabitha’s on-line post? (Which at this juncture, Sheilaalsocouldn’t miss.) It was highly possible. Her sister had done a good job of making her plea go viral.
Tabbi was smart. She was so smart.
But Sheila thought she’d outsmarted her.
Her changed looks should have thrown any pursuers off the trail.
Not the case.
Sheila had been one part amused, and one part annoyed when Tabbi had joined her on-line, relating that she knew Sheila was on a train. It hadn’t bothered Sheila at the time. She’d been too involved with the game. It was always fun playing with her sister. They’d spent a bunch of hours doing it, and this time they’d even created a new bad guy to battle together.
Sheila had thought that this new, creative twist of Tabbi’s was simply that; a fresh and challenging spin in the game.
Wrong.
But she hadn’t known that when Tabbi had asked to speak with her privately.
The asked for conversation? Sheila had been expecting it. She wasn’t stupid. She’d known Tabbi would eventually try to convince her to reveal her whereabouts.
Sheila didn’t want to worry Tabitha by not talking to her, but she’d pondered whether or not to agree to chat. She knew well, her sister’s power of persuasion. If she let Tabbi have her say and she got into Sheila’s head too deeply, Sheila would probably just let her sister come and get her.
That wasn’t how Sheila had wanted things to go.
In her plans, she saw herself getting off a bus in Maine, spotting her sister in a crowd, and dancing triumphantly forward for a hug. They’d both jump up and down delightedly that Sheila was not only there—where they’d eventually stay for Tabbi’s happily-ever-after—but they’d both understand that Sheila had been more than capable of taking this trip on her own. Which would then allow Tabitha to be more comfortable letting Sheila explore more stuff by herself while Tabbi got on with her new life.
Not that Sheila wanted to be separated from Tabitha for long periods of time. Not at all. Sheila just felt it was time to take some of the burden off her sister, especially because Tabbi had cute, cute, Spencer to attend to.
After Tabitha’s request for a private convo, Sheila had finally and reluctantly agreed.
Mistake.
