And there was really only one way to find out. It was still dark outside, but I packed up my stuff and left a note for my mom, saying where I was going and that I would call her in the morning, that I’d bring Junie to see her soon. Then I was in the car, driving, on my way to Zeke, the edge, the edge, the edge, the edge.

Sixteen

I WAS TWO HOURS INTO THE FOUR-AND-A-HALF-HOUR DRIVE when my mom called me. “Frankie!” she said. “Jesus, why didn’t you wait until the morning? I walked into your room, and it was like you’d ascended into heaven. It was very unsettling.”

“I left you a note, Mom,” I said, trying to stay awake, grateful for the distraction, even one this awkward.

“You left the note in your bedroom, sweetie,” she replied. “So I didn’t get the note until after I thought you’d been kidnapped. You leave the note in my bedroom or in the kitchen, okay? Like, in the future, you leave the note somewhere accessible.”

“I’m sorry, Mom,” I said. “I wasn’t in the best frame of mind.”

“So you decided to drive to Memphis in that frame of mind? Sweetie, this feels like that summer all over again. You’re in the car, and you are alone, and . . . just be careful. I wish you’d let me come with you. I kind of thought it might be like a road trip or something for us.”

“I just think I need to do this, so I can move on to whatever is next.”

“Your life? Right? The rest of your life with your husband and your daughter? When you say something, sweetie, like whatever is next, it is not reassuring, okay?”

“Mom! Jesus, of course, I mean the rest of my life. My whole life. Just getting back to Bowling Green and being with Aaron and Junie and writing my books and, I don’t know, being outed as a freak who caused a national panic.”

“Could you, at the very least, text me the address where you’re going? So I can give it to the police if you disappear? So I can drive there? Wait, if I left right now—”

“Mom! It’s okay. I’m okay. I need to do this. I’ll text you that address so you have it.”

“It’s Zeke?” she asked. “You’re sure it’s him?”

“Yes, it’s him. I’m going to go see him. I’ll tell him, let him know that this is happening, and then I’ll go home.”

“Okay,” she said. “If I didn’t stop you back then, I don’t know what I can do about it now. None of us really has the moral high ground, I guess I’m saying. Please, please, please be careful. Do you have pepper spray?”

“No, I don’t. I don’t need pepper spray.”