hours, and it had only been three seconds short of eternity when Mack made a turn into the parking lot of a 1950s-style motel.
“Room 228,” Lily said.
Mack pulled his truck right up in front of the door, and she bailed out before he turned off the engine. She rapped on the door with her knuckles and yelled, “Alligator.”
Holly already had her suitcase in her hand when Braden threw open the door. A cockroach ran up the side of it, and she squealed loud enough that a man in the next room cracked open his door, too.
Mack had gotten out of the truck, and he quickly snapped pictures of the room and the roaches before he brushed the bug away, then stomped on it.
“Just a bug,” he told the man.
“That ain’t the first one,” Braden said as he wheeled his suitcase outside. “Here’s my key, Mama. Daddy kept the second one.”
Lily took the old-fashioned key on a fob from him and marched up to the office. The door was locked, but there was a window to the left of it with a note: No vacancies. Leave key in slot. She dropped the room key in what looked like a mail slot and went back to the truck. Both kids were already strapped into the back seat.
“We were scared, Mama,” Braden said. “We ain’t never stayed in a place like that. Holly wouldn’t even sit down.”
“Not after a mouse ran across the bed. Mama, I’m never going with Daddy again. If he wants to talk to us, he can come to our house or call on the phone,” Holly said.
This was the child who had wanted to go live with her father and who had hated her a few weeks ago? Lily started to remind her of that, but she was so grateful to have her kids back unhurt that she couldn’t say a word.
Braden agreed with his sister. “Me, too. I chased the mouse, and it went through a hole in the wall. And then I heard a lady in the next room squeal. I guess she was afraid of them, too.”
“I took a few pictures just in case he takes you back to court for visitation,” Mack whispered to Lily.
“Thank you,” she mouthed.
“You kids want something to eat?” Mack asked. “I see a sign for a McDonald’s at the next exit.”
“Yes,” Holly said. “Daddy got us a pizza, but we didn’t eat any of it. I’m starving.”
“I am, too,” Braden said.
Mack made the next turn and found the McDonald’s. “Want to go in or order at the window?”
“Go in, please,” Holly answered. “I need to go to the ladies’ room and wash my hands. I didn’t touch anything after I saw the mouse, but I feel dirty.”
Braden unfastened his seat belt and got out of the truck. “That place wasn’t even fit for us to turn our goats loose in. I’ll go wash up, too.”
“Come with me, Mama?” Holly asked.
“Sure, I will,” Lily answered.
When they were alone in the restroom, Holly washed up and then held her hands under the hot-air dryer. “Do you think they’re clean now, Mama, or should I wash them again?”
“I imagine that they’re clean enough,” Lily told her.
Holly nodded. “I tried to stay brave for Braden, but I’ve never been so scared in my whole life. Why would Daddy do that to us? We just wanted him to know that we didn’t like fancy dinners, and we didn’t want to go to the Alamo again. He called us ungrateful, but we weren’t even mean and hateful like we were to you when you said we were moving to Comfort.” Tears began to stream down her face. “I’m sorry, Mama. I’m sorry that I smoked pot. I’m sorry that I yelled at you. I’m sorry that I almost said I hated you.”
Lily gathered her daughter into her arms. “It’s all right. I forgive you. I’m just glad there was a phone in the room so you could call me.”
“We had to charge the call to the room.” Holly hiccuped.
“That’s just fine.” Lily held her close and patted her on the back. “I’m glad you called. When did your dad say he’d be back to get you?”
“If we didn’t call him, then he said he’d be there by eleven tomorrow morning at checkout time, and he said that we were going to the Alamo, or he’d pay for us to stay in that place for another day, and he’d get us in time to get us back