Page 16 of Hairpin Curves

“I just need to load the snacks.” Megan hoisted her tote bag into the backseat alongside the one Scarlett had already put back there. “You brought snacks, too?”

“Of course. I can’t rely on your snacks.” Scarlett snatched her coffee out of the car and took another sip. She’d made herself a third cup of coffee to survive the drive tonight, but it was not going to be enough. She hadn’t slept well last night, either, always unsettled about the journey ahead and not sure what she was going to do about that unsettled feeling.

“My snacks are fine. It’s my coffee I’m not sure about.” Megan frowned. “I made some but it’s not very good. I don’t usually drink it, and the only time I make it is at the diner. I don’t think I made it well, but I didn’t want to fall asleep while I was driving.”

“I’ve had a lot of coffee. I can take the first shift.” Scarlett filed that weird little bit of information away: Megan didn’t know how to make coffee other than diner coffee, and she didn’t like it. How could anyone not like coffee? Scarlett had started drinking it as a teenager, so maybe she wasn’t the best example. “You got everything? Your playlists all loaded up on your phone? Got your chargers? Your atlas? Got your maps pre-downloaded to your phone in case we lose signal? Got your passport?”

“Oh my god.” Megan held up her hand. “Have you ever tried asking one question at a time?”

“No time for that. We’ve gotta hit the road. I need to know.” Scarlett gestured to the road. “Out there. We’ve gotta get going.”

“How much coffee did you have, Scarlett?”

Scarlett blinked. “I had like two cups before this one. But that’s normal. And they were big cups. So maybe a little bit more than usual.” She rubbed her hands together. “But answer my questions anyway. I’m not turning around once we get going.”

“I have everything we need.” Megan’s tone was long-sufferingly patient, the kind of patient that meant she wasn’t really feeling patient at all. “Except I don’t have any playlists, because my Bluetooth isn’t working. So I burned CDs.”

Scarlett stopped. “Excuse me?”

Megan stared at her. “What?”

“CDs? You didn’t fix the Bluetooth?”

Megan shrugged. “Why does it matter? I’ve got enough music.”

“But if I had known, I would have paid to have your Bluetooth fixed. I have so many playlists on my phone, and I’m not gonna be able to listen to any of them.” Scarlett paused. “Oh, wait! I have an aux cord.” She dug one out of her car.

“I’m still gonna listen to my CDs,” Megan said. “I worked hard on those.”

“Sure. I’m aching to get some mid-’90s twelve-at-a-time playlists into my life for this next ten days of driving.” Scarlett felt a wave of sickness, which might have been either anxiety or too much caffeine. “Let’s get on the road before I change my mind.”

Driving at night was miserable in the way that it kept you up all night, but way better than driving during the day because there was less traffic. Scarlett didn’t mind the night. She was a night owl anyway. And if Megan was going to just keep her mouth shut and stare out the window like she was currently doing, that was fine by her.

“You do this a lot?” Megan asked after a long stretch of silence, after they pulled out onto the highway and started zipping north through the desolate darkness.

So much for silence.

Conversation was probably better than silence, anyway. Silence got her thinking, and she tried to avoid too much of that lately. Scarlett adjusted her grip on the steering wheel. “Do I do what a lot? Go on road trips in the middle of winter?”

“Go on road trips in general.” Megan didn’t look away from the window, but in her reflection, she glanced up at Scarlett. Scarlett pretended not to notice.

“Not a lot,” Scarlett said. “I did one back when—” She stopped herself, not wanting to bring up anything about college. “Back a few years ago. When I moved to New York.”

“When did you move to New York?” Megan shifted in her seat. “I didn’t know you lived there.”

“A bit after I turned twenty-three, so three years ago. I only lived there a couple of months. It’s an expensive city.” She didn’t want to share more about that time in her life. It wasn’t a pleasant time, a time when she felt like she had to run away from everything familiar and start over. But you couldn’t ever run from the past, not really.

Megan didn’t say anything for a minute, and they drove on in silence. “Why’d you come back?” Megan asked after a few moments.

“I told you. It was expensive.” That wasn’t the whole story. She’d been too out of her league, up against all her insecurities, unable to hold down a job and frustrated by her own incompetence. She’d come home to lick her wounds. Like hell she’d ever admit that to Megan, though. Megan may not have lived a very adventurous life, but she was always together in a way that Scarlett was scattered. Even in high school, Megan was acing her classes while Scarlett was trying to get away with a C-minus average and lying about it.

Megan made a thoughtful noise and didn’t ask her to elaborate. Either she knew Scarlett was lying and didn’t want to push, or she thought Scarlett was telling the truth. Or, maybe, she just didn’t care.

Better turn the attention to Megan. “So what about you?” Scarlett asked. “You never thought about leaving the diner?”

Megan snorted. “Never crossed my mind. Each time the alarm went off at four, I thought, ‘Yes, perfect, I’m living my dreams.’ I never considered there was more to life than waiting tables.”

“Hey, hey, I’m not criticizing being a waitress.” Scarlett had done that herself, and she’d been shit at it. “I’m just asking. You want to do something else with your life, I thought maybe you’d have done it.”