“No. But I’ve never played a starring role in an escape movie before. I was dreading having to confront those photographers. I did exactly what you told me to do. I told the nurses my friend was picking me up. I took the elevator to the first floor, changed in that bathroom you found. My heart was going crazy the whole time. The wig was a good idea, although I kept waiting for someone to put a hand on my shoulder and say, Ashley, why do you suddenly have brown hair?”

Joanna’s heart was going crazy, too. When was the girl going to stop talking?

“It worked out fine.”

“Thanks to you. Can I take the wig off now?”

“Yes.” Joanna knew Ashley was chattering because she was nervous and she sympathized. She was nervous, too. Nervous about going back to Silver Point. Nervous that bringing Ashley with her on this trip might turn out to be another bad decision among the many she’d made in her life.

But what choice had she had?

She discovered that she was gripping the wheel again. Pregnant.

The girl hardly seemed able to care for herself, let alone another person, but she wasn’t going to think about that now. Her head was so full of things she wasn’t going to think about it was a wonder it didn’t explode.

She glanced at Ashley and saw curly blonde hair and big blue eyes. Oh, Cliff. “Is there someone you’d like to call? I forgot to ask whether you have your phone or whether it was lost in the accident.”

“I lost it, but then someone found it and the police returned it to me. But there’s no one I need to call.”

“Are you comfortable? There’s a pillow on the back seat if you want to close your eyes for a while. You should sleep.” Please sleep. She needed thinking time. This was the first opportunity she’d had to focus on herself without worrying who was watching her.

At some point, of course, she was going to have to think about Ashley. Figure out what to do next. But that wasn’t her priority.

“I’m not tired. Also, I hurt all over, so sleeping isn’t easy.” Ashley shifted in her seat, trying to get comfortable.

Sleeping hadn’t been easy for Joanna, either. The moment she lay down, the past played out in front of her. She couldn’t stop thinking about the choices she’d made and berating herself.

The past few weeks had been the most emotionally exhausting of her life. And the loneliest. Not one person in her social circle had reached out to her. Acquaintances—she would never again refer to them as friends—people who had enjoyed her company in happier times, didn’t want to come near her now and risk finding themselves in the spotlight, or worse, having to defend her against the judgment brigade.