Running On Empty

by Colette Ballard

  “But I thought you said the check couldn’t be used as evidence because I broke into their property and took it?”

  “I didn’t want to use it in court because it was obtained illegally and I didn’t want them going after you. But using the check worked perfectly on Westfield. The fear of smearing his precious name was enough for him to call off his dogs. Not to mention, what he did to Rachel and her family is called intimidating a witness, and it’s illegal.” The chief smirked. “He was ready to drop all the charges at that point, but the hearing was already set up and I think Judge Harbo felt the pressure to give you some type of punishment. Three months probation isn’t bad considering what it could’ve been. And no charges were filed against your friends, so it’s a win-win.”

  It was hard to wrap my mind around everything that had taken place in the last twenty-four hours. “I can never thank you enough.” I shook my head and tried to put together the question that had been nagging at me. “I still have one question. Why…why did you put your career on the line for me?”

  “I’m a police officer, it was my responsibility to investigate.” The chief shifted in his seat. “And, uh… and…”

  I saved him from having to get all mushy. “Yeah, yeah, I get the whole blood relation thing, but really…why did you believe me in the first place?”

  He hesitated, then reached in the front pocket of his shirt, pulled something out, and handed it to me.

  It took a full minute for my eyes to focus and my brain to process what it was—a picture of me with my face battered. It was the Polaroid picture that Billi Jo had snapped of me when we were in Las Vegas.

  “Your friend gave it to me a couple weeks ago. Said Billi Jo gave it to him—she thought it might be some evidence because of the date on it.”

  I caught the him in his sentence. “Justice gave it to you?”

  He grimaced. “Yeah, he asked me not to let you know, though.”

  Of course Justice didn’t give it to me first. He wouldn’t want me to know that he saw me in that condition. Same as always, he was protecting me—even if it was from myself.

  “Did the judge see this picture?”

  He shook his head. “It wouldn’t have made any difference in court. Dates on pictures can be changed, and for all they knew, you could’ve have had a bicycle accident.”

  I gave him a funny look—that was my excuse.

  “But I did show it to Richard Westfield last night, and I think it got to him.” He glanced down at the picture in my hand. “It got to me, too. To answer your question: in my gut, I knew you were telling the truth from the beginning, but when I saw this picture…I had to seek justice for you if I was ever going to live with myself. It wasn’t just my responsibility as a police officer, it was my responsibility as a man.” He turned to me, pain flooding his tired blue eyes. “As a father.”

  Warmth washed over me and the tension in my shoulders lessoned. It was all so much to take in. Staring down at the picture of the girl with the black eye, swollen face, and busted lip, I barely recognized myself. I ran my thumb across the picture of that sad, lost girl as I cradled her in my hand.

  When we started out of the parking lot, my eyes met Rachel’s as she got into her mom’s car. I mouthed ‘thank you,’ and she did the same back to me. This day had given both of us our freedom and a chance at a new beginning.

  Exhausted, I settled back in my seat and tried to enjoy the view on the ride home. After miles and miles of green pastures and country roads, the chief began to drum his fingers on the steering wheel. “I’ve been thinking…I know school will be starting soon and it’ll be your senior year. You and your friends are not eighteen, and everyone will have to be getting back to their homes…” He stopped drumming. “If you need a place to stay…my door’s open.”

  I stared out the window, trying to conceal my conflicting emotions. I hadn’t given any thought to going back to school or living arrangements or anything besides making it through to the next day. And now my real father was offering to let me move in with him. His kind gesture filled my heart, but the thought of living without my sister or my friends and Justice close by made it feel heavy.

  “I understand if you don’t want to…I just thought maybe it would give you a fresh start. A different town, a brand new high school. It might be good for you.”

  It might be good for everyone. I would be out of Jack’s way—he probably wouldn’t want me back home, anyway. If I were gone, maybe he would start being a better provider. Maybe it would be better for my friends not to be associated with me and the nightmare that began at the end of our junior year. And maybe I could get to know this man who risked his career and jail time to help me. This man who was my dad.

  “Thanks,” I said, fighting back tears. “Can I get back to you on that?”

  His hands relaxed on the steering wheel. “Of course.”

  When the chief turned in to Justice’s driveway and started down the rugged lane past Justice’s barn. “Why are we going to the cabin?”

  “Because that’s where your friends and sister have been waiting for you since you left.”

  Sure enough, as we pulled up to the weathered fishing cabin, there on the porch stood all the people I loved.

  “How did you know they’d be here?”

  He put the car in park and turned off the ignition. “Because I promised Justice I’d bring you home.”

  I pressed my fingers to my lips holding back the emotions. His words touched my heart because although he’d just invited me to come live with him, he acknowledged that this place was my home. Not the cabin or Justice’s house, but the people; my friends, my sister, Justice… These people were my home.

  “And River,” his strong jawline flexed, “I know you don’t have much to base this on yet, but I am a man of my word.” His eyebrows pushed together and his forehead creased as he waited for my reaction.

  My chin began to quiver and my hands trembled, and this time I didn’t have to think twice before I reeled him in for a hug.

  Sensing my friends moving closer, I released the chief and flung open the car door to meet Jamie.

  “What happened?” She asked breathlessly like she’d been sprinting a mile instead of a few yards. “Did they drop all the charges?”

  “Self defense,” I nodded. “But the judge gave me three months’ probation; no drugs or alcohol, no leaving the state of Texas—no problems.”

  “Good, because I didn’t plan on letting you out of my sight any time soon.” Jamie grabbed me and tears spilled down my face as I held her. Kat and Billi Jo joined in and we clung to each other like our lives depended on it.

  After a few minutes, I lifted my head and glanced over Jamie’s shoulder to find Justice standing at the bottom of the porch steps, waiting. When our eyes connected, he put his hand on his heart. I let go of Jamie and held my arms out to him. “Time out,” I mouthed.

  He rushed to me, picked me up, and spun me around. My arms wrapped around his neck like a python and I buried my face in his neck, taking in his intoxicating scent like it was my last breath.

  Justice finally set me on the ground but continued to stroke my hair until I loosened my grip around his middle. Leaning back so I could see him, I tipped my head as I gazed up at him with tunnel vision. An electric current pulsed through my body as I stared at his plush red lips, willing him to kiss me.

  My heart hammered when his eyes softened and he leaned into me, but it squeezed when he looked past me. Smiling, he bent forward, his warm breath against my forehead as he kissed it. “How about we save this time-out for when we don’t have an audience?”

  Heat rose to my face when I remembered we weren’t alone, and I untangled my arms from his neck. “Sorry, I…”

  He ran his fingers along one of my curls. “Decided you were ready to call off our deal?”

  “No way.” I took a half step back. “I called time-out; it was your idea to save it for a later date. So technically, that thing that almost happened between
us thirty seconds ago never happened.”

  “Oh, it happened alright.” His mouth bowed as he tapped his index finger on his temple. “It just happened in here.”

  I swatted him on the shoulder and he caught my hand in his, then grabbed me and spun me in his arms again, laughing.

  I laughed, too, hard and loud. And it felt right.

  Realizing I had one more thing to make right—one last person I owed a thank you—I asked the chief to borrow his cell phone. I ran in the cabin, found the emergency number Charlie had given us, and dialed.

  The raspy smoker’s voice I missed so much answered on the first ring.

  “It’s over, Charlie, it’s finally over.” My throat dried out, but I managed to explain how my journey had gone since we’d left Vegas and how I came to understand the things he had tried to tell me. I told him about the chief and how he’d figured out we were in Vegas, and everything after that. “I’m finally free. I’m not running anymore.”

  “I knew you’d make it, kid. I knew you would,” he said, his voice cracking at the end. “But remember what I told you. Running is only half the battle; facing what you were running from is the other half.”

  I smiled, remembering the car analogy Charlie had given me one night at his bar. He said that trucks are like people: they require fuel if they’re gonna be of any use. If you run them dry for too long, they give up on you.

  This time, I understood what he’d tried to tell me months ago. He wasn’t talking about the physical running after the accident; he meant the reasons that I sold myself short and dated someone like Logan in the first place.

  “I get it now, Charlie,” I nodded as I gripped the phone, “and I owe you. If there’s anything I can ever do for you…”

  He cleared his throat. “There is one thing.”

  “Name it.”

  “Make it count, River. Make your life count.”

  A lump caught in my throat. “You got it, old man.”

  33

  HARSH REALITY

  A smile tugged at my heart as I watched my sister practically skip into the gas station, her long brown ponytail bouncing with each step. She hadn’t left my side for the past two weeks since I’d left the courthouse and moved back into the trailer.

  After Jamie orchestrated a meeting with Jack, I turned down the chief’s offer to move in with him but promised visits at least once a month and weekly phone calls. With Jamie’s prompting, and probably threats, Jack reassured me that I could remain living in the trailer as long as I stayed out of trouble. He mumbled something about a promise he’d made to my mother to take care of me until I turned eighteen. Technically, he hadn’t ‘taken care’ of me since she died, but I guess providing a roof over my head was his definition, and it was the most I could expect from him.

  I flipped up the metal lever to start the gas pumping and squeezed the nozzle handle to fill Jack’s truck. It felt good to do something normal without looking over my shoulder every few seconds. This was only my second outing in Dahlia. There was plenty of staring and whispering around Castle Court, and lots more at the grocery store last week, but I held on to the hope that my interest level would soon return to normal.

  “Well, well, well, if it isn’t the jailbird,” a familiar voice taunted. My stomach sank to my flip-flops when I turned to face Logan’s best friend walking out the door toward me.

  “Leave me alone, Red.”

  He chuckled. “I’m sure you’d like that, wouldn’t you? You’d love for me, my friends,” he gestured to two guys wearing Winston High t-shirts approaching the gas pump, “and everyone else in this county to leave you alone. Unfortunately, that’s not the way it works around here.”

  My palms were clammy as I pulled the nozzle out of the tank and hung it back onto the gas pump’s cradle.

  “What’s going on?” Jamie’s face was paper white as she stepped around the back of the truck to where I was now surrounded by Red and his minions.

  Red scanned her up and down before answering, “Just havin’ a little chat with the black widow, that’s all.”

  I shook my head at Jamie, but she ignored me and edged her way through the guys to get to me. “Don’t call her that.”

  “Why not?” Red tugged at the bill of his Dallas Cowboys hat. “It’s true.”

  “It was self-defense. If you read the newspaper, you’d realize that.” Jamie placed her hand on her cocked hip. “But then that would require you to know how to read, and obviously you’re not that smart.”

  Red laughed. “So tell me, little Daniels, how’s it feel to be the sister of the most famous girl in the state of Texas?”

  “Sure, I will,” Jamie’s posture straightened and her fists clenched at her sides, “as soon as you tell me how it feels to be the biggest asshole in the state of Texas?”

  Damn. Why did the smart mouth have to run in the family? I fumbled the gas cap back on. “Come on, Jamie, he’s not worth it,” I said over their laughter. I was sure this was the first of many run-ins we’d have with Logan supporters, and we’d have to get used to it.

  Jamie stepped into Red, who dwarfed her by at least a foot and a hundred pounds. “Your friend attacked my sister and raped another girl. How is that amusing to you?”

  “It’s not amusing,” Red scowled down at her, “it just pisses me off that this trailer trash is out walking free when my best friend got a life sentence. Or should I say death?”

  I tugged on Jamie’s elbow, but she wasn’t ready to let it go. “He’s dead because he hurt River and she defended herself.”

  “Defended herself?” He smirked, actually smirked. “Is that what you call it when you shoot your boyfriend for wanting to have sex?”

  His words grated through my ears like railroad spikes dragging across a sheet of metal. Words that were similar to the ones Logan had said to me right before he attacked me.

  I moved to stand in front of Jamie and stared directly into Red’s yellow-green eyes—the color of pond scum. “Guess I’m not the only one in this county who knows how to pull a trigger, am I, Red?” I snarled, reminding him of the incident when he’d ‘accidentally’ grazed the arm of a guy who’d supposedly jumped him and Logan. “The Westfield name sure has a lot of power to cover up things that will have a negative effect on their family, don’t they? You might want to remember that before you go throwing stones.”

  His mouth opened a fraction then snapped shut, and I motioned for Jamie to get in the truck. We took off, leaving Red and his friends staring after us.

  “Jamie,” I blinked several times and mashed my lips together, “tell me the truth. Has anything like this ever happened before?” I wiped my palm on my jean shorts as I adjusted my rearview mirror to make sure we weren’t being followed. “Is this what it’s been like for you since…Logan?”

  She stared out her passenger side window. “No.”

  I swallowed hard. “Jamie…”

  My little sister’s shoulders sank, and she let her head drop against the window. “Yes.”

  “Phone.” My mattress springs squeaked when Jamie bounced on my bed. “It’s Justice.”

  “Tell him I’m sick,” I pleaded from underneath my pillow.

  “That’s what I told him the last two hundred and forty-six times he called,” Jamie said and yanked the pillow off my head, “but he’s not buyin’.”

  Justice had to leave town for work the night I got out of court, so I hadn’t seen him for the past two weeks. And I hadn’t taken his calls since I ran into Red and his minions two days ago. He had good reason to be concerned, but I had good reason to avoid him. I growled as I turned on my side and snatched the phone out of her hand.

  Before I had a chance to say hello, Justice started, “River, are you okay?”

  “I’m sick.” I sniffled with extra drama. “Guess this means I’ll have to miss going to the rodeo with you tom—”

  “Jamie told me about your run-in with Logan’s buddies at the gas station.”

  Traitor sister. “
She what?” I scowled at Jamie, who shrugged and breezed out of the room.

  “Yeah, I’m gonna take care of that as soon as I get back in town.”

  “That’s the problem.” I sighed. “I’m not going to live my life with you or my little sister or my friends fighting for me every time somebody stares at me or says something horrible.”

  “Trust me, nobody will say that bullshit if I’m around.”

  “Justice…” My insides were jumbled. “I’ve made up my mind. I’m moving in with…my dad on Sunday. I’ll finish high school in Taylor. It’ll be easier for—”

  “That’s ridiculous.”

  “Is it?” I squeezed my pillow tight.

  “River, I just got you back…” He paused, and I could almost see him clenching his jaw. “I’m not giving you up without a fight.”

  “You don’t have to give me up. You can come visit sometime…and we can still be…friends.” I blinked the tears away. “Just not…”

  “Friends?” He paused for what seemed like five minutes. “All right then, as a friend, I’d like to ask that you honor our annual tradition of going to the Camas County Rodeo together.”

  There was nothing I’d have liked more, but my God, it would be hard to be near him ever again as ‘just friends.’ “But I’m contagious.” Sniff, sniff.

  “As long as you don’t try to kiss me, I think we’ll be okay.” His voice danced.

  The thought of kissing him caused my insides to warm. “There will be no kissing because we’re just friends.”

  “I hear you.”

  I twisted a chunk of hair at the base of my neck. “I’m serious, Justice.”

  “I know you are,” he sighed, “and I actually agree with you. We were never cut out to be more than friends.”

  Even though I wanted him to agree, a part of me didn’t want him to agree that easily. I swallowed the dinosaur-egg-sized lump in my throat and fought to keep my voice even. “I know, right?”