Perfect. As long as the furniture hadn’t become a nest for rodents or bugs, but she’d keep that fear to herself.

On the third side of the cabin, Anna found what she was searching for: a low window that looked loose in its frame. Just the entrance she needed. “Slide down, sweetie. I want you and Hayley to walk out to the road and back. Count the steps.”

“But what if it’s more than a hundred?” Hope asked. That was as high as the twins could count.

“Then we’ll start over.” Hayley grabbed her twin’s hand and tugged. “Come on!”

As the girls headed toward the road, squabbling, Anna watched them until she was sure they couldn’t see her, and then pulled a screwdriver out of her back pocket and eased it between the sill and the window edge. Working quickly, she jiggled the window open enough to get leverage, and then wedged the screwdriver in. The wood was swollen and tight, but she manhandled it upward with brute strength she hadn’t known she had.

If she didn’t find shelter for the night, and longer, she feared what harm might come to her children. It was bad enough, sleeping in the car and tangling with the drifters who hung around roadside rest areas and truck stops, but even worse was the ultimate fear: that Beau would find them.

The window broke free in a rush and sped upward, splintering the sill. A long needle of painted wood dug into her hand. She pulled it out, wincing, and leaned into the room.

Musty, but that could be fixed with open windows, as long as the slight breeze kept up. She heard skittering feet, saw a shadow race across the floor. Small and compact: probably a mouse. Mice she could handle. She just prayed there were no snakes.

Most important, she didn’t see any signs of human habitation: no stacks of clothes, no dishes on the little kitchen counter. She didn’t want to disturb another squatter. Didn’t trust such a person, even though she was about to become one herself.

She couldn’t believe that protecting her children had come to this.

For the thousandth time on their three-day pilgrimage, she questioned whether she’d made the right decisions. Leaving Beau, yes. And her job, telemarketing from home, hadn’t been a reason to stay in Montana. But heading to the South Carolina coast, based on a town’s name and some hazy childhood memories? That had been impulsive.

On the other hand, where else could she have gone? Her father didn’t have a lick of spare energy for her problems, and she wasn’t blessed with a big, close extended family.

“Mom! It was seventy-eight steps!”

“No, eighty!”

The twins rushed to her, red faced and bedraggled, and she knelt and hugged them fiercely, one in each arm, inhaling their sweaty-kid scent. They needed baths, or at least a swim, soon. She was just thankful that they were safe and with her.

“Whatcha doing with that window?” Hayley asked.