Page 30 of Stops Along the Way
“What’s happening?” Amelia asks me, trying to keep her voice level but obviously shaken.
“I’ll walk closer,” I say in a hush.
“No, wait,” she says.
Grady and Declan head over to us at a normal but cautious gait, still breathing heavily from their impromptu race. “Everything all right?” Grady asks. Amelia flicks her fingerquickly toward the lot. It only takes them a second to follow our gazes and discover the problem. “Is that someone in your car?”
“Yeah,” Amelia whispers, even though there’s no one else in earshot.
“It’s fine,” I insist, though not feeling very fine about it at all. “It’s not like they’re in the driver’s seat. I’ll go walk by and check it out.”
“No,” Amelia says, but seems to be running calculations in her head and follows up with, “Not too close.”
“Sure.” I take a deep breath and walk down the sidewalk, turning to move perpendicular to the row of parked cars, with a not-so-discreet turn of my head to stare directly through the windshields. But then I realize the mistake and shuffle back to my sister, shoulders relaxed.
“Okay, you’re never going to believe it,” I say, building suspense.
Declan looks toward the lot and seems to come to the same conclusion before I announce it. “Ah, I see it.”
“What?” Amelia asks, eyes wide.
I clasp my hands together. “That’s not our car.”
In the row of parked vehicles, our silver sedan with Nebraska license plates sits right between the white SUV and another silver car, the exact same make and model, also with Nebraska plates.
She scrunches up her face. “Are you sure?”
“Yep.” I gently nudge her arm to tilt her so that she’s facing the vehicle one parking space over. “That one is.”
“You’re sure?” she repeats.
“Yep,” I say, reaching out my hands to take the keys from her. I hit the unlock button, and our empty car to the right lights up. “We’re all good.”
But Amelia’s face remains contorted. “I was sure.”
“It’s fine,” I try to reassure her.
“Yeah, we all thought the same. Easy mistake to make,” Grady says, hand on her shoulder, which Amelia doesn’t shrug away from, though she cringes at the wordmistake. Not something my sister is fond of. “You know what.” Grady’s good at trying to recalibrate a drop in energy. “Let’s switch things up for the next stretch. Do we want to do some passenger swapping here?”
“What? Like go in different cars?” I ask, instinctively glancing toward Declan.
I’m pleased to find him looking my way as well. “That sounds fun,” he says.
Amelia is staring off into the distance, still shaken—and I’m not sure whether it’s from the initial fear of someone having gotten into our car or from having gotten concerned about something that turned out to not be a problem at all. But really, she shouldn’t feel too bad; it wasn’t an impossible mistake to make, but I’m sure she’s still stuck feeling a certain way about it.
My sister crosses her arms and speaks to Grady. “But you and I just drove. If those two pair up, one of us has to drive again.”
“Really, I’m good to drive another stretch,” Grady says to Amelia, bouncing on his heels like he’s warming up for sportspractice. “All right, perfect. So I’ll go with Lee, and Iris can drive with Dex?”
“Works for me!” Declan says.
“Sure,” I agree before realizing that Amelia is shooting daggers my way.
My sister turns to Grady, accepting her fate, but not going down without a fight. “It’s Amelia,” she corrects.
Grady isn’t put off. “I get it. Nicknames have to be earned. I’ll get there.”
She crosses her arms. “Let’s just drive to the next stop. I’m keeping my music on.”
