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Meredith

I leftso nice about the past tense—left He’s still in California Meanwhile, I’as station in Middle-of-Nowhere, Texas I have no audy diamond tennis bracelet to purchase a plane ticket to San Antonio, and to its credit, the bracelet also paid for the taxi currently fueling up at the purowling

I eyeball the shelves lined with an array of sugary junk food It’s the good stuff: half-dozen packs of white powdered donuts that are litter bombs and stacks of sad, deflated honey buns It all seems like what aliens would co hu at it all I want to tear open a bag of Doritos and waterfall the chips straight into my s destined to forever spin on greasy rollers—that’s how hungry I am

I didn’t plan my departure very well I didn’t plan it at all, in fact Last night, I was lying onloudly beside me, just as confident as ever that the sun would rise in thelike it always does An hour earlier, he’d come in late from a work dinner with lipstick smeared on his cheek His white collar, meanwhile, was pristine

I had a as station snack aisle, enough todown payht, I only needed one I left, and that’s all that matters There’s half a country between hi I have to worry about now is putting my next foot forell, that and the fact that I have nowhere to go, noout of sellable accessories, but let’s not get bogged down by the details

I stare at a can of peanuts sitting on the shelf Yesterday, I could have slapped edfood into my basket like a contestant on Supermarket Sweep Now, I can’t afford peanuts; Andrew canceled my cards as soon as he realized I left

I s how pissed he ht I’d do it It was part of his spiel: Who pays the bills? Who buys your clothes? You’re nothing without me, Meredith—worthless

In a purely financial sense, he was right about the whole “worthless” thing My net worth currently consists of a couple dollars and soh I left hi but the clothes on my back It’s the outfit I had laid out for a charity luncheon—an event thatplace at this very moment without me The ensener jeans

My great escape was a victie I knew if I sat down and planned it all out, I’d lose uessing Now, I realize I should have been a bit etaway snacks, water, maybe some sneakers

Honestly, though, I never thought I would be here Of all the places I could have run to, Texas seemed to make the most sense because of my sister—well, technically she’s my half-sister I recall the phone conversation I had with her last night while I was at the airport trying to catch a red-eye I had to dial her number about a dozen times before she finally answered

“Meredith?” she asked, obviously shocked to see my name appear on her phone screen We aren’t exactly close She probably has me in her phone as That Half-Sister I Hardly Know, Meredith To be fair, I have her in my phone as Half-Helen

“Helen! Hey!”

She didn’t answer back right away There was so much static on her end of the line

“Are you there? Can you hear er and hoped the call would suddenly coh clearer

“Barely!” she shouted “What’s going on? I have like fifty missed calls from you”

I blanched “Yeah, well, it’s actually kind of a long story, but I’m on my way to Texas”

“Texas?”

She sounded shocked, and that’s fair She’s lived in the Lone Star State for six years and I’ve never visited

I cut right to the chase since time was another luxury I’d abandoned

“Yes, and I have a favor to ask…a rather big one actually”

“Speak up, Meredith, I can hardly hear you You need a favor?”

“Yes, well, that is”—I raisedif I could stay with you for a while?!”

“What?”

“I’m actually already headed your way”

A lighthearted, singsong chuckle on my end did not ease her shock

“Are you kidding? Brent, hold on, it’s Meredith”