Truly, Madly, Like Me - Jo Watson Page 0,86

stuck in the car with him for three hours before they managed to get us out. He was dead that entire time.”

I gasped. Put my hands over my face and mouth. “That’s horrific.”

She nodded. “I was so angry after that. I was consumed by it, all the time. Every time I saw someone on their phone, every time I saw someone not looking where they were going, someone driving badly, this rage used to bubble up inside me. I was angry with the entire world around me.” She paused and took a deep breath. “The guy was checking his Facebook feed when he killed my husband. He killed my husband because he wanted to see how many people liked his post.”

I lowered my head in shame. I’d done that before. “Where’s the guy now?”

“In jail. I thought that would bring me closure and make me less angry. Which it did, but then the anger gave way to something much worse: fear. The fear was harder to live with than the anger. I became terrified of everything. I stayed at home, I stopped driving, I was too afraid to leave the house and go outside. Suddenly, the world was this terrifying place and I didn’t think I could survive in it.”

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“I never thought I would find love again. I thought I was going to be alone and in my house forever . . . and then I came here.”

“How did you hear about it?”

“There was a story about it on the news, and when I heard about it, this place with no phones that was small enough to walk around, it sounded exactly what I needed. And more than that, when I heard about it, I just had this feeling that I had to come here. I can’t explain it.”

I nodded. I could relate. I’d had that same feeling when I’d read about it in the paper, but I wasn’t going to say that out loud.

“At first, when I came here, I was definitely running away from my old life. But after a while, I stopped running and I settled down, and that’s when my entire life changed. I met Faizel and got a second chance at love that I never thought I would ever get. And now I’ve got not one, but two babies on the way at age forty! Do you know how hard it is to fall pregnant at this age, let alone with twins? It was all a miracle.”

I stayed silent for a while and considered what she’d said. “I don’t think it’s like that for me,” I finally concluded, breaking the silence. “I don’t think I’m meant to be here. There’s nothing for me here.”

Samirah shot me a look. “What about friends?”

“Are we friends?” I asked.

She nodded. “We’re definitely getting there, don’t you think?” There was a strange beat between us and then she took a deep breath. “I haven’t told anyone that story in a very, very long time.”

I looked at her and a tear trickled down my cheek, I was so incredibly touched. I reached out and spontaneously pulled her into my arms for a hug. This was the second hug I’d given in days, and probably one of a few real hugs I’d given in years, other than hug emojis.

“Thank you, for everything you’ve done for Harun and for me,” I said, pulling away. “Thanks for being my friend, in real life. I’ll never forget you and this strange little town but . . . I don’t belong here. I have to go.” I gave her one last smile and then I left.

CHAPTER 43

I left Springdorp behind me forty minutes ago and passed that sign that I’d seen almost a week ago. But the second I drove past it, they started . . .

All at once, with this fervent intensity that made my head spin, things around me started buzzing and beeping. The noise disorientated me at first. I hadn’t heard it in days and it took me a second to realize what it was. I looked at the seat next to me, my phone was plugged into the car charger and it was alive! Shaking and buzzing so much that it started to move sideways across the seat, like a crab. The onslaught of messages awakened it like Sleeping Beauty.

I pulled my car to the side of the road and grabbed the phone. I wasn’t able to do anything with it for five minutes, while I waited for the