Frank didn’t answer, but he got out of the truck, shirtless and barefoot in the cold. The two men stood on the verge to pee, shoulder to shoulder like mismatched brothers, turned away from her in some odd gentlemanly gesture of modesty as the ditch grass blew sideways in the wind.

Roy really was a nice guy, she thought. All that worrying for nothing.

Helene needed to go, too, so she walked behind the trailer, dropped her pants, and squatted, feeling the wind on her backside, making sure not to get any on her shoes. To save money during that long bad year, she and her mom had camped out in parks and fields, often sleeping in the car. Helene had gotten very good at peeing outside. Even now, all alone in the world, she felt like her mom was standing beside her, keeping watch.

When she walked up to her open door, Roy was already sprawled snoring across the rear seats and Frank sat behind the wheel. He gave her a sharp look and suddenly she didn’t feel like talking anymore. In the red dashboard glow, his bare chest with its too-tight skin seemed even more like an anatomy drawing. She tilted back the passenger seat and closed her eyes.

—

When she opened them again, it was broad daylight, Roy was behind the wheel, and they were pulling into the parking lot of a funky old motel. Roy looked different in a way she couldn’t quite define but was certain she didn’t like. Gone was the handsome, relaxed stranger who had charmed her in the night, replaced with this new man who seemed to look right through her.

Suddenly Helene was afraid again. Before falling asleep, she’d wedged her daddy’s pistol under her right thigh, but now it was gone.

At the edge of the asphalt, Roy pulled the big truck and trailer crosswise to the stripes and gave her an empty smile. “Ride’s over, honey, we’re checking you in.” Helene’s fear spiked higher. She’d felt safe before but that’d been a lie. She saw herself laying on a bloody bed, naked as a jaybird, her body sliced open wide for the whole world to see.

He hopped out and walked around and opened her door. Her daddy’s gun fell out onto the blacktop. Before she could move, Roy scooped it up and tucked it deep into his jacket pocket, then took her pink backpack in one hand and her upper arm in the other, wrapping his strong fingers all the way around her. “Let’s go,” he said. “You knew this was coming.” Even his voice was different, the words coming tight and fast.

She walked beside him into the lobby, already numb. He took her driver’s license from her wallet and handed it to the clerk. While the clerk did something on his computer, Helene tried to talk herself into being okay. You can do this, she thought. There’s a price for everything. He can’t be worse than Bogaloosa. You pay this now and you’re free.