hit her, he did have tantrums and throw things. The nice luggage that Miss Janie gave her for graduation had been the object of his last fit.
She wrote a note to Mrs. Witherspoon and put it in the mailbox. She’d been paid on Friday, so she would forfeit only one day’s work by leaving without giving notice. Then, at noon, she hitched a ride into town with one of the gardeners. She paid for a ticket on the next bus leaving for Dallas and never felt so free as she did when Abilene disappeared behind her.
After half an hour, she began to worry. Denver had family in Sulphur Springs. What if he’d gone back there after she’d left him? That was exactly what she got for not thinking things through. She started making plans as she watched the flat countryside going by at seventy-five miles an hour. If he was there, she would go to the courthouse and get a restraining order against him. Of course, he wouldn’t think twice about walking right through it, like the Dixie Chicks sang about in “Goodbye Earl.” Maybe if Denver did do something stupid, she would take care of him the same way the girls did in their song. After all the places where she’d put her head at night in the last year and a half, jail didn’t look scary at all.
After a two-hour layover in Dallas, Kayla climbed aboard the bus to Sulphur Springs. During the hour-long ride, she mentally counted the money she had left several times. The ticket had cost ninety dollars, and she’d spent five on a chicken sandwich and a glass of sweet tea in Dallas. That meant she had two hundred left of Noah’s money, and she’d barely managed to save about that much during the past six months while working for Mrs. Witherspoon. The old lady had counted the slices of bread and grains of salt to be sure “her girl” didn’t rob her.
Once Kayla made up her mind to do something, she seldom looked back at her decision, but it was full-steam ahead. Yet when the bus came to a stop at the Pilot gas station in Sulphur Springs, the steam ran out and she questioned if she was doing the right thing. She still had enough money to purchase another ticket. She could go to Tulsa and get a room in a cheap hotel for a couple of days while she looked for work.
You are so stupid. Denver’s voice popped into her head. You can’t use Mrs. Witherspoon for a reference after quitting your job.
She sat still until everyone else had gotten off the bus before she finally stood up, stepped out into the hot air, and picked up her taped suitcase from the ground. She was on her way inside the station when she heard someone call her name. She whipped around to see Sam Franks, Miss Janie’s neighbor, not ten feet away.
“Mr. Sam?” she asked, to be sure she wasn’t hallucinating. She hadn’t told a soul that she was going to Sulphur Springs, so why was he there?
He poked a thumb at his chest. “It’s me in the flesh. You going through, or do you need a ride to Birthright?”
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
“Nellie Thompson is coming home from Houston after visitin’ her daughter for a week. She asked me to pick her up and take her home. There’s room in my old truck for one more passenger if you need a ride.” He gave her a quick hug.
She’d always loved Mr. Sam and Miz Delia. They’d treated her like she was kinfolk that they liked.
“I’d love one and thank you.” She couldn’t believe her luck. Kayla waved to the older woman, whom she’d met at church, as she got in.
A minute later, Sam spotted Miss Nellie and then helped her into the truck. Teresa slid over to the middle of the bench seat and sat between Nellie and Sam on the ten-minute trip to Birthright, and Nellie talked the whole time about everything from her grandkids to how much she missed her cats. Listening to her tell stories about her kids and cats brought back memories of ten years earlier, when Nellie would come sit on the porch with Miss Janie. They’d been friends—not best friends, like Miss Janie and Delia were—but they were in the same Sunday school adult class, and Nellie had always known the latest gossip.