I chewed my bottom lip. “Er, I guess so? I mean, we kind of are after last night.”
The look of horror washing over Mom’s face was perfectly timed with the two large, metal doors at the back of the van swinging open. A bearded man about Mom’s age greeted us, holding a hand in front of his eyes.
“Hello, folks! My deputy here informed me that you might not be wearing clothes, so I will continue to avert my eyes.” In his outstretched hand was a tall stack of wool blankets. “Please, help yourselves.”
“Thank you, officer.” Mom motioned with her eyes for me to retrieve the stack so she could keep herself cocooned in the sleeping bag. “My s–uh, stupid boyfriend here just couldn’t keep us on the road last night.”
I shot her a dirty look. “What the hell, M–er, uh, Molly.” The poor sleep made it hard to think clearly, and even harder to lie. If one of us was going to accidentally let slip that we were mother and son, I really did not want it to be me.
“Did you want us to wait with you for the truck, ma’am?” the bespectacled officer asked.
“No, that’s okay, thank you,” Mom reassured me, with a soothing smile.
“He’s only about ten minutes away, so we’re gonna take off. Lots of other people in the same situation as you this morning,” the jollier officer said. “You sure you don’t need anything?”
Mom stroked my collarbone and wrapped her hand around the back of my neck, gazing into my eyes with unabashed longing. “I have everything I need right here.”
Finally, I understood what she meant.
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