Chapters (65)
- Cover
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Part One
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Part Two
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Forty-Three
- Forty-Four
- Forty-Five
- Forty-Six
- Forty-Seven
- Forty-Eight
- Forty-Nine
- Fifty
- Fifty-One
- Part Three
- Fifty-Two
- Fifty-Three
- Fifty-Four
- Fifty-Five
- Fifty-Six
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
- About the Publisher
The police weren’t very helpful. Since I didn’t have the birth certificate. Or a court order. At least I was being matched with a lawyer from Legal Aid, but that would take a day or two, they said. So I had to find her on my own. I had to stop Digger if he was going to do something stupid. Like bring the baby to Hal and Ruth? But he wouldn’t know how to find them. Would he take the baby somewhere else and do what? Leave her on the firehouse steps? He wouldn’t get his money that way.
I should have known better. He’d been so strongly against this. I wished I hadn’t called him. I wished I hadn’t fallen asleep. And I shouldn’t have helped him diagnose his dead battery. I didn’t say any of this to Vera, of course. I just kept it in my head. But she’d been listening to my call with Legal Aid. And I was sure Amanda had told her about my call to the police last night. I was shifting in my seat and not in the mood to talk as we made our way to the Blue Anchor.
“Where do you live in Minneapolis?” Vera asked as she drove, occasionally glancing at me.
“Cedar Park.”
“That’s nice. My niece lives near the art museum.”
No answer. I had a lot to think about.
“Are you a student down there,” said Vera, “because Amanda was undecided about college, and I told her you’re never too old to get an education.”
“Yeah.” I couldn’t focus on conversation. I stared at the shoulder and the passing woods, wondering what might be out there, hiding.
Once, when I was out driving with my dad, his truck hit a deer that jumped out from nowhere, and I fell to the floor. Hit my head on the glove compartment. My dad yelled, and I thought it was my fault. I stayed in the hospital for a week with a concussion. He visited me every day and brought me dolls and chocolate. There was a Santa Claus in the lobby, and kids in wheelchairs with bald heads. I was the only kid without a mother. I thought everyone was looking at me. I wanted to go home. After that, I was always skittish, like something could jump out at any moment.
So I watched the sides of the highway for any signs of deer. I didn’t tell Vera what I was looking for. She was happy to take what she could get. When we got to the Blue Anchor, the place was getting busy for the lunch rush. Several cars and trucks in the parking lot. I didn’t see Digger’s, but I was hoping Bailey was working.
“Will you wait for me here?” I asked Vera.