At the same time—and it was the strangest thing to feel this way—she sensed there was something good growing inside her. But every time she thought of that, another brick would fall and snap her back to reality.

“What do you think we should do, then?” Brian said.

“I don’t know.”

CHAPTER 2

A week after Melissa placed the positive pregnancy test in his hands, Brian parked next to a dingy gray building that sat in the shadow of I-65. Above was a half-lit sign that should have read Pawn-a-Palooza, but at night you could only see one a, one P, and the looz. The business didn’t need a sign for its clientele. Anybody who wanted fast cash or a little offtrack betting or the perpetual poker game in one of the back rooms knew this was the place.

Brian winced from neck pain that had been nagging him all day. He’d slept on it wrong or maybe strained a muscle trying to fix some of their furniture. He kept tilting his head and stretching to try to work it out.

Maybe it was the stress of Melissa’s news. He shook that thought away and carried a boom box into the store. It was only a month ago that he’d bought it. He’d had extra cash back then and it seemed like a good idea.

He placed the boom box on the counter in front of a burly man with a beard and bloodshot eyes the color of an Indiana sunset.

The man glanced at it, then looked up at him. “We don’t deal with stolen items.”

“I didn’t steal it. I bought it a month ago.”

“What’s wrong with it?”

“Nothing. It works great.”

“Why don’t you take it back to the store where you bought it, then?”

“I did. They said I needed a receipt. They only offered a store credit, and I need cash.”

“How much did you pay for it?”

“Three hundred.”

The man scowled. He pointed to an overflowing shelf of car radios and older boom boxes. When Brian turned his head, a pain shot through his neck and he grabbed it.

“I already got radios like that.”

“But this one’s almost new.”

The man stared at the boom box, then picked it up and looked it over. “How much you want?”

“Two eighty.”

“No way. I’ll give you two hundred. Take it or leave it.”

Brian looked down and rubbed his neck again. The woman who answered the phone at the abortion clinic in Indianapolis had said they needed $220. He’d called three in the area, and theirs was the lowest price. He hadn’t told Melissa any of that. He didn’t want her to say they didn’t have enough money for the procedure.

He also needed ten bucks for something to eat.