I shook my head and looked out the window. Jared was right: Beth didn’t deserve a friend like me. She had only been patient, honest, kind, loyal, and protective. I couldn’t imagine the despair I would feel if I answered a call that Beth’s car had exploded with a charred body inside. My heart ached for her, and if I wasn’t riddled with guilt before, now I was so ashamed I could barely stand to be in my skin. Tears welled up in my eyes and fell down my cheeks. If Beth ever found out that I knowingly allowed her to suffer over my death, she would never forgive me—and I would never expect it from her.

The phone stopped ringing, and the voicemail chimed, letting me know she’d left a message. I held out my hand to Jared, but he shook his head.

“Do you really want to hear the worry in her voice? You feel bad enough.”

I covered my face with my hand and shook my head. “This is awful, Jared. This is so wrong.”

Jared leaned over and kissed my temple. “I’m so sorry, Nina. I’m so, so sorry.”

I looked over at him and could see he was just as upset as I. If he could find another way he would, but once someone knew about our life there was no going back. I didn’t want that for Beth, either.

We continued south, and by daybreak reached Maryland. The morning sun glistened on a sign that read Eden Pop.793. Trees lined the median on one side of the road; railroad tracks on the other. Other than a few billboards and a patch of land used for tractor sales, I couldn’t see much of Eden.

“That’s an interesting name,” I said.

“It fits, too,” Jared said straight-faced. “The town is just as hard to find as the garden.”

“Ha, ha,” I teased, unimpressed with his joke. “So do we have an actual destination?”

Jared smiled. “We do, now. When I saw we were on Ocean Highway, I thought of the perfect place.”

“Which is….?” I trailed off.

“Virginia Beach.”

I smiled. “I’ve never been there.”

He met my eyes, matching my expression. “I thought it would be a relaxing place for you to wait while the investigators figure out what happened, and then when they contact us—and they will—we will return in a few days, upset and flustered.”