"I mean, it's not like he came looking for us."
"Oh." I hesitated. "But what did he say when you got back home?"
"We didn't go back home."
"Not ever?"
"Nope."
"So, what did you do?"
"So we're a few miles from my mom's new place, and we're sitting there in the car, with no gas and no money – actually slept in the car a night or two. And this lady knocks on the car window and asks if we're okay. And we say 'Yeah, fuck off.'"
In spite of everything, I almost laughed. "You didn't."
Jax smiled. "We did."
"And what did she say?"
"She told us to 'fuck off' right back. And then, she tells us she's just made lasagna, and that we should get our asses inside before it gets cold."
"Inside where?"
"Her house."
"So, did you? Go inside, I mean?"
Jax shrugged. "Well, ithadbeen a couple of days."
"And then what happened?"
"Nothing," he said.
"What do you mean nothing?"
"I mean, we never left."
I sat, stunned, for a long moment. Finally, I said, "And this lady, it's Darla, isn't it?"
"Good guess."
It wasn'tthatgood, considering how obvious it should've been. This explained so much, but it also reminded of something I'd overheard on the night we'd first met.
"On the night of that party," I said, "Jaden threatened to tell Darla what you did last October. What was it?"
"Nothing, but it would still tick her off."
"Yeah, but what was it?" I persisted.
"The short story is, we paid off her house."
"And she didn't know it was you?"
"Technically, it was me and Jaden. And no, she doesn’t know." He gave a rueful laugh. "I'd been wanting to do it for years, but she always got so ticked."
"So, how'd you manage it?"
"Some sweepstakes thing."
