“Tell me about it,” I groan.
“What if it’s a trick?” she asks.
“How would it be a trick? It was his handwriting.”
“I don’t know.” She frowns. “But I’m not letting you go alone. I need to make sure you’re safe.”
“Only if you promise to wait at the entrance,” I insist. “I need to talk to my dad alone, and I don’t want anything scaring him off.”
“Okay.” She wraps her pinky in mine, and we head for the front entrance together. When we reach it, I turn and point at the brick column.
“Just wait there. I’ll be back in ten minutes at most.”
Sybil nods and keeps a lookout for me as I scan the street. My father didn’t say where he’d be or what to look for. But as I’m walking, a low whistle grabs my attention from one of the cars. Sure enough, when I peek inside, it’s my father. He looks different than what I’m used to. His facial hair is grown out, and he’s wearing a ball cap, but he’s definitely the same man who raised me.
I toss a secret thumbs-up in Sybil’s direction and reach for the door.
“Get in,” my father says. “We need to talk.”
I sink into the passenger seat of a Kia, wondering if it’s a rental car. I’m not sure I even want to ask how he got it, considering the circumstances.
“Dad, what is going on?” I demand.
He doesn’t reply right away. Instead, he turns the key in the ignition and shifts the car into drive.
“Wait, what are you doing?” I screech as he whips out of the parking space. “I can’t go with you.”
“I know I owe you an explanation.” His fingers tighten around the steering wheel as he accelerates down the street. “I screwed up. I should have just told you, but I couldn’t.”
“Okay, well right now, that doesn’t matter,” I tell him. “You’re neck deep in some serious shit, Dad. So why did you even bother coming back now?”
“They’re onto me.” He glances in the rearview mirror. “Mexico isn’t going to work out. I thought maybe I could go to Canada, and this time, you could come with me.”
“Are you kidding me?” I stare at the man who has obviously lost his goddamned mind. “You just left me. You abandoned me and ran off without so much as a goodbye, and now you think I’m going to leave the country with you?”
“I’m sorry.” He checks the mirrors again and hammers down on the accelerator. “It was the only thing I could do.”
“This is crazy.” I swallow my fear and try to reason with him. “You need to pull over and let me out. And then you need to go turn yourself in.”
Before he can even respond, a siren blares behind us, and sure enough, when I turn, there’s an undercover car following us.
“Fuck!” My father glances over at me. “Put your seat belt on.”
With trembling fingers, I reach for my seat belt and jam it into the buckle as he picks up speed again. This time, he starts dodging cars and swerving into oncoming traffic, and my fear rises with the needle on the speedometer. “Dad, please! You need to stop!”
He doesn’t seem to be listening to me anymore. His focus shifts from the traffic to the mirrors and back. The midday congestion is hampering his getaway efforts, and at most, I think we’ve only made it two miles from the school.
Squinting at the flashing lights in the mirror, I consider my options. Clearly, my father has gone insane. But without pulling some sort of stunt maneuver and safely ejecting myself from the car, my only hope is to appeal to him.
“Please pull over,” I beg, shrieking as he narrowly avoids a garbage truck. “You’re going to hurt someone.”
“Stella, I can’t go to prison!” he shouts over the racket. The sirens continue to multiply around us, and now it sounds like they are coming from every direction. Surely, he must realize that too.
“You have no choice!” I yell. “Please don’t take me down with you.”
“I love you, honey.” His voice fractures. “I just want you to come with me. We can make a whole new life. I promise, I’ll make it all up to you.”
“If you love me, then let me go,” I sob. “Please, Dad. I’m pregnant.”