“Don’t force it if you’re not hungry. I can make some chicken noodle soup or poached eggs—something that’ll be easier on your tummy.” I wanted to take care of her like I had when she was three. I wanted to be the big brother I would’ve been if I’d been in her life all these years.
“It’s fine.” She met my gaze. “I’m just wondering what to tell you.”
“Whatever you can. Everything. We’ve got major issues to deal with here, and the more information I have, the better.”
She shrugged. “I was in New York City with Mom.”
“In the city? Doing what?”
“Shopping.”
That sounded entirely improbable—my family loathed the bastion of internationalism and blue politics that was NYC. “Okay. Then what?”
“I slipped away. Caught a ride to the New Jersey turnpike to get out of the city. I found someone heading to Ohio, and I asked if I could go along.”
I blinked. “Just like that?”
“Well, they had Ohio plates. I was counting on them being, I dunno, liberal or something. Having chosen to come to New York City in the first place.”
Liberal didn’t mean safe, and anyhow, I wasn’t going to list all the reasons someone less liberal might go from Ohio to NYC and back again. “And then?”
“Some hitching here, crashing on a bench in a bus station there, cajoling rides, and eventually ending up in LA. I told you the rest.” She pulled the crust off the bread and bit into the middle.
Finding a nice woman to drive her to Gaynor Beach.
“You’re leaving a shit ton out of that story.”
“I’m telling you what you need to know.”
“Why were you in New York? Why did you give Mom the slip? Hell, how did you give Mom the slip?”
She eyed the rest of her toast, then dropped it onto the plate.
Hiro placed himself at her feet and gazed longingly at the discarded food.
After a moment, she picked up her coffee and sipped. “It really doesn’t matter.”
“Cheyenne—”
“We were shopping, Brooklyn. That’s all you need to know. And I had to get away. She was inattentive for a moment, and I took that as a sign from the universe to turn tail and run. I had my overnight bag, and I decided to hightail it as fast as I could.” Another sip.
“Do you have a phone they can trace?” Because the last thing I needed was the cops showing up at my door.
She rolled her eyes. “You think they’d give me a phone?”
“You might’ve, I don’t know, bought one yourself.”
Her eyes clouded. “I had thirty-six dollars in my wallet and had to make it last nine days, and…” She gazed upward as if trying to calculate. “I don’t know how many states. I can say it wasn’t a direct route.”
Jesus fucking Christ. It’s truly a miracle she’s alive. “You can eat anything you want here, okay? We should buy more stuff. Why don’t we do a grocery order?” I hesitated. “You don’t have enough clothes to last more than a day or two, do you?”
“If I keep laundering them, I should be okay.”
I shook my head. “Let’s get you a couple of outfits. There’s a great thrift store in town. And they donate proceeds to charity, so you’d be doing a good thing.”
She arched an eyebrow.
“I won’t ask if you would agree to call our parents?—”
