“That’s because I was in jail last night.”
“None of my business, miss,” he said.
I sighed. “Doyoutake credit cards?’
“No, miss.”
I fished out my checkbook and paid him without a single smart-mouthed comment about how this was beginning to feel like extortion. Our food truck in Savannah hadn’t been doing very well, so I wasn’t exactly flush with cash. But I was also exhausted, and just wanted to get somewhere private.
Once I had my keys, I grabbed one of my suitcases from the car and then went inside my motel room.
7
Charlotte
Two double-beds took up half the motel room, with a dresser and a boxy old television across from them. On the far end of the room was a bathroom, a kitchenette with a microwave, mini fridge, and a hotplate. At a glance, I didn’t see any stains or insects. It even smelled clean.
I locked the deadbolt, then took a shower. The bathroom was tidy and there was plenty of hot water, which improved my mood fromGod-awfulto merelyterrible. Once I had the smell of jail off my skin and had changed into fresh clothes, I felt like a new woman.
Without listening to any of the voicemails, I called Momma.
She was relieved to hear my voice until I told her what had happened. She listened quietly as I explained everything that had happened last night and today.
“Eastland?”she said. I heard her speaking to my dad, then her voice returned to the phone. “Your father’s going to call in some favors. He has a lot of old sheriff buddies working down between Macon and Savannah. We’ll get this all sorted out soon.”
I closed my eyes. “Thank you. I knew Dad would be able to help.”
“Do you want me to come pick you up?”Momma asked.
I sighed. “As much as I want to say yes, is there any point? I have three weeks of community service, and my license was revoked. I’m scheduled to begin my hours tomorrow morning. So unless you want to pick me up today, and then drive me three hours back in the morning…”
“I’ll do it if you want me to,”Momma said. “There’s nothing like staying in your own bed to soothe the soul.”
I smiled to myself. “Thanks, Momma, but I’ll be all right tonight.”
“Hopefully just tonight,” she said, anger trickling into her tone. “Handle your community service tomorrow as if nothing’s wrong. By tomorrow night your father should have fixed this. Love you, sweet pea.”
As soon as I hung up, I quickly plugged my phone charger into the wall before my phone could die. Then I rested my head on the pillow and closed my eyes. Having a dad who was the sheriff of a small town had been a pain growing up because it meant I couldn’t get away withanythingwithout word getting to him. But if he got me out of this mess, it would make up for all the missed curfews in the world.
I rolled over and looked at my suitcase on the other bed. I’d thrown everything into suitcases without bothering to fold them because I was in a hurry to get away from Scott. Since I didn’t have anything better to do, I retrieved the other two suitcases from the car and arranged all my clothes on the second bed. I sorted them by type, then folded everything nice and neat back into the suitcases. An orderly closet made for an orderly life, Momma always said.
Here in a run-down motel in a run-down town, the simple chore was calming.
By the time I was done, I wasstarving. The last thing I’d eaten was buttered bread at the beginning of last night’s dinner. I guess the stress of everything had made me forget all about eating.
I went back to the motel lobby. “How far is it into town?”
The kid behind the desk looked up from his phone. “Uh. I dunno. A while thataways?” He pointed in a vague direction that wasn’t helpful.
“Do you guys have Uber or Lyft here?”
He laughed as if that were a joke.
I was too hungry to walk all the way to the diner; besides, it was awfully humid outside from last night’s storm, and I didn’t want to get all sweaty after just showering. “Is this food fresh?” I asked, pointing to a mini-fridge full of food.
“I dunno. Check the labels.”
I picked out a microwavable burrito, some canned fruit, a Diet Coke, and a big bag of chips from the rack underneath. I stared at the cooler a few seconds longer and grabbed a six-pack of beer.