Reckless (Wrecked) (12 page)

They stared into each other’s eyes for a long time, Candi’s mind racing to the days that she mooned after him but thought there wasn’t a chance in the world that he’d ever feel the same way about her.

“I thank God every day for that shipwreck,” said Kevin softly.

Candi felt tears prick her eyes.  “Me too.”  She cleared her rough throat.  “Do you think we’ll feel the same about this stuff … after it’s all over?”

“Let’s hope so,” he said, leaning forward to share a deep, passionate kiss with her.

Candi let herself get carried away with it for a little while, reveling in the heat that seeped into her bones.

“Mmmmm,” he growled deep in his throat, pulling away finally.  “We’d better not do that, or I’ll just give up on the whole idea of eating all together.”

Candi smiled.  “Come on, let’s go.  There’s a whole plate of pancakes in there with my name on it.”

Kevin got out and waited for her to join him in front of the car.  “Let’s see,” he said, draping his arm across her shoulders as they walked to the front door, “pancakes sounds good … and sausage, and bacon, and eggs, and bagels, and a couple pastries, three pieces of pie, and …”

“We’re on a budget,” said Candi, smiling to herself over her boyfriend’s insatiable appetite.  Her grandmother would have asked him if he had a hollow leg where he was putting it all.

“Oh.  Okay, scratch the pie, then.”  He opened the door and followed Candi inside.

Candi tried not to look at her brother and Sarah, but it was impossible.  They were smiling at each other over milkshakes and seemed so in love.  She was going to have to remind them to be more chill in public.  They were attracting the attention of everyone in the room.  She tore her gaze away from the raw emotion she saw there and took a left, sitting along the window on the other side of the room.

Kevin dropped into the chair opposite her and picked up the menu that was waiting.  “Okay … pancakes?  Get into my belly …”

He went on to command what seemed like half the menu to join the pancakes in his stomach, and Candi just smiled as the words flowed over her. 
Life sucks … but it could suck a whole lot worse.
  She couldn’t imagine what a mess her head would be in right now if she didn’t have her little family along with her on this horrible misadventure.

Chapter Four

Stockpiles and Watchkeepers

JONATHAN TOOK THE FIRST DRIVING shift after they’d finished breakfast.  He was about to pass the next exit when he spied a Costco sign.  At the last second he made his decision and swerved off the highway, coasting down the exit ramp to the traffic signal below.

“What the heck, babe?” asked Sarah, jerked awake by the movement of the car.  “Everything okay?”

“Yeah.  I think we should get supplies here before we get too close to our destination.”  He pulled up to a stoplight near the store.  “Wake the others, would you?  I’d like to make a group decision on this.”

Sarah leaned into the back and grabbed Candi’s and Kevin’s legs, shaking them awake.  Jonathan watched their bodies jiggling back and forth in the mirror.

“Mmmmph … wha …,” mumbled Candi.

Kevin just kept snoring.

“We need to take a vote.  To Costco or not to Costco; that is the question,” said Sarah.

Jonathan nodded.  “Shakespeare.  Nice.”

“I know my lit-tra-ture,” she said in a funny English accent.

“What?” said Candi, still obviously disoriented.  “Did you say Costco?  We’re at Costco?  Why?”

“Jonathan says we should stock up.  And I for one agree with that.  Fifty boxes of macaroni and cheese?  Why yes, thank you very much.”  Sarah licked her lips.  “Yummers for my tummers.”

“Ugh.  No
thank
you,” said Candi, sitting up straighter.  She rubbed her eyes a few times before nudging Kevin.  “Come on, Kevin.  Time to shop.”

“Nooooo, I don’t wanna shop anymore,” he moaned, putting the back of his arm over his eyes.

The light turned green, so Jonathan pulled ahead and into the parking lot of the wholesale store.  “I think we should get supplies really far from our final destination so no one recognizes us and figures out that we’re staying close by.  If someone sees us here and does recognize us, they’ll assume we’re staying in this town, so that would be good.”

“Sounds smart,” said Candi, sighing.

“Yeah, but someone needs to guard the car.  That’ll be me,” said Kevin.  His knee jammed into Jonathan’s back as he sank lower in his seat.

“Candi and I will go in.  You and Sarah sleep.  I’ll leave the keys.  If anyone looks suspicious, just go.  We’ll meet you at the gas station one block that way,” Jonathan said, pointing in the direction they’d just come from.  “The one with the big green sign.  You guys see it?”

Sarah nodded.  “I see it.  And I’m okay with you guys leaving me behind to nap, but if you don’t come back with mac and cheese, heads are gonna roll.”

“We will buy two cases, don’t worry,” said Jonathan.  “Ready?”  He looked at his sister in the back seat, concerned about the dark circles under her eyes.  Maybe doing something other than worrying would perk her up.  Girls liked to shop, especially at Costco.

“Yeah.  Come on,” she said, getting out of the back seat.

Sarah had already gotten comfortable, reclining back.

“See you soon,” Jonathan said, shutting the door.  He tapped on the glass.  “Lock the doors.”  He waited until he saw the buttons go down before he left to join Candi standing at the back of the car.

“How are we going to get in?  Don’t they have membership cards here?”

“Yeah.  I have one from the FBI guys.  Took it out of his wallet.  He looks enough like me he could be my dad.  Hopefully, they won’t check too closely.”

They grabbed a cart and made it through the first barrier, the guy at the door checking to make sure that they had a card.

“One down, one to go,” whispered Jonathan under his breath.  “Okay, what do we need in order to fully stock this cabin?”

“Well, assuming it’s furnished and has sheets and pillows and junk, we’ll need just food and drinks and stuff to prepare food with, like spices and oil.  Peanut butter and jelly would be good too.”

“I wish it wasn’t Sunday.  I’d love to go into a library and do some research.”

“For what?” asked Candi, adding a couple of items to the cart, one of them a recipe book.

“First, we have to find a cabin rental.  Then we need to check the news, to see if the police responded to our anonymous phone call.”

“And Sarah and I want to get a dog at an adoption place,” added Candi.

Jonathan stopped pushing the cart.  “What for?”

“Security.  Plus, it’ll give us something to do … training the dog and stuff.”

Jonathan nodded, considering how dogs were much better suited to guard duty in the dark than humans were.  “I think that’s an excellent idea.  We’ll research that too, then.”  He moved to the aisle with the giant bags of dog food and hefted one over, sliding it under the main basket.  They made their way through the rest of the store, filling the cart to the top with canned and dried foods and drinks.  Jonathan would have liked to add some other things, but resisted the urge to buy items that might spoil.  They’d have to risk going to a somewhat local grocery store for those things.  Maybe the girls could come up with a disguise so they’d be harder to identify, in case the FBI put some sort of alert out for them.

When they neared the checkout, Jonathan started to feel panicky.  “Candi, you go wait at the door.”

“Why?  You’re going to need help.”

“No, I have the cart.  I don’t want them to see us together.  We’re less likely to be recognized from pictures if we’re alone.  They’re looking for four kids, two couples, or brother and sister groups … not single teens.”

Candi went back to looking frightened.  Her voice came out sounding strangled.  “Fine.  I’ll see you outside.”

Jonathan nodded, turning his attention back to navigating his heavy cart into the shortest line.  The place was pretty full, and he had four people ahead of him with hundreds of items in their carts total.  It was plenty of time to become quite nervous over the idea that he might be rejected at the checkout for using someone else’s card. 
What are the odds that this card has been reported stolen or missing?  Hmmm…  probably one in ten thousand or more.  I’m probably good there.  And what are the odds that someone in this store has seen a picture of me on the news?  Factors: we are out of the county we were in when it occurred.  Point in our favor.  We are near the state line, so almost out of the state even.  Another point in our favor.  I am alone and not with three others.  But I don’t know if they’re showing all our pictures individually or as a group, so I can’t be sure whether that’s in my favor or a point against …
He continued adding and subtracting points until he got to the register, still no closer to knowing if he was about to be caught red-handed or not when he gave the cashier the card.

She looked at the name.  “Grant Latimer.”

Jonathan nodded.

She stared at the picture and then up at Jonathan, her eyes narrowing as she took in his features.  She poked the picture on the card with her long fake nail.  “This isn’t you.”

“No, it isn’t.  That’s correct,” said Jonathan, his face flaming. 
Come up with something … quick!
  “It’s my dad.”

“Do you have I.D.?   Something with your name on it,
Mr. Latimer.
”

Jonathan shook his head.  “No, sorry, I don’t.  My wallet was stolen last night from my jacket, at the prom, so I have to wait until Monday to go to the DMV and get a new one.”

She pursed her lips, frowning.  “The name sounds familiar.  Latimer.  Grant Latimer.  You from around here?”

“Uhhhh, no.  I’m from … out of town.  Not far, though.   Few miles, really.”  He wracked his brain for a town name from one of the many signs he’d passed while driving.  “Uhhh, Billingsly?  Ever heard of it?”

She smiled.  “Oh, yeah!  Heck yeah!  I went to high school there!  Where do you go?”

Jonathan’s eyes nearly fell out of his head.  “Guess!” he said, not even thinking before the word flew out of his mouth.  His brain was quickly calculating what the odds were that he’d picked the one town in the entire state that this woman had gone to for high school.  He didn’t have the exact number yet, but it was high, he knew that much.

She bit her bottom lip, nodding while looking him up and down.  “Bentworth.”

“No.  Is that where you went?”

“Yeah.  What about … Billingsly Central?”

Jonathan smiled nervously.  “Yep, that’s it.  Billingsly Central.  That’s where I go.  To high school.  That’s the name.”

“So that makes us rivals,” she said, raising her eyebrows in a challenging way.

Jonathan’s mouth fell open but no words could come out.

She waved at him, smiling warmly and setting the card up on her register.  “I’m just messin’ with ya, kid.  Go ahead and start boxing your stuff up.”  She scanned the first item and slid it down the ramp.

Jonathan stepped to the side and concentrated on not having a heart attack or throwing up.  That was the closest call he’d had since he’d been on the island, and it was enough to make him want to move to a cabin in the woods and never come back to the real world again.

***

Kevin felt the car stop, and slowly sat up, trying to orient himself.  The sounds of doors opening and shutting registered as he rubbed his face and hair.  He yawned, wishing he’d gotten about eight more hours of sleep.  “Where are we?” he asked, finally opening his eyes and looking around.  Candi was the only one in the car with him, and Sarah and Jonathan were walking up to a small one-story building with a chainlink fence around it.  He could hear dogs barking.

“We’re getting a dog.”

“A … what?”  Kevin wasn’t sure he’d heard correctly.  He squinted through the dirty windshield.  “Hearts and Hands Animal Shelter.”  He frowned in confusion, thinking he must have missed something big.  “We’re at an animal shelter?”

“Yes.  While you were sleeping we took a vote.  We’re getting a dog for protection at the cabin.  We’re going to teach him to be our security … you know, to warn us when bad guys come and also maybe bite if necessary.”

“Bite?”

“That was Sarah’s idea, not mine.  I just wanted one for alerting purposes and to help keep our minds off our situation.  I’m afraid we’re going to go stir crazy like that guy in that movie who was snowed in, if we don’t come up with some activities.”

“Like dog obedience training,” said Kevin without emotion.  He wasn’t sure yet how he felt about the idea.  Several minutes later when he saw movement out of the front windshield and figured out what he was seeing, he started laughing.  “Holy crap … is she serious?”

Candi followed his gaze.  “Uhhhhh …”  She looked at Kevin.  “Am I hallucinating?”

Kevin just shook his head.  Leave it to his sister to do something like this.  The scrappy mutt at the end of her leash was hardly what he’d call guard-dog material.  More like ankle biting.

Then Jonathan came into view, and Kevin nodded.  “Now
that’s
what I’m talking about.”  A second dog was at the end of Jonathan’s leash - one that looked more like what Kevin had imagined they were here for.

About five feet in front of the car, they switched leashes.  Sarah bent down and started rubbing the bigger dog’s chest and head, smiling like a crazy person.

“Now I’m just confused,” said Candi, watching Jonathan walk his dog around a little.  Kevin figured he was trying to get it to go to the bathroom or something.

Sarah came over and opened the back door.  “Out, Sugar Lump.  Make room for Killer.”

Candi got out slowly, keeping her eyes on the white pit bull that sat next to Sarah’s leg, its torn up ears and distended nipples hanging down, victims of a hard life and gravity.  “What in the heck are you doing, Sarah?” she asked.

“Loading the newest member of our family in the car … what does it look like I’m doing?”