Chapter 9 - Morning on the Asphalt
The sun came up over the highway like a dull copper coin smeared behind a gray haze of morning exhaust. By six o'clock, the roar of semi-trucks shifting gears down on the interstate had replaced the quiet hum of the night, shaking the thin windowpanes of the motel room.
Maya woke up slowly, blinking against the harsh light filtering through the yellowed blinds. She sat up, rubbing her eyes, and looked around the unfamiliar room with a momentary confusion that vanished the second she saw me sitting by the small table with a cup of cold coffee.
"Mom?" she asked, her voice small and tentative.
"I'm right here, sweetheart," I said, setting the cup down and walking over to sit on the edge of her mattress. "How are you feeling?"
"My dress is dirty," she said, looking down at the light blue fabric draped over the chair. The hem still bore the faint gray stain from where she had pressed against the damp wooden wall of the pool house while screaming for me to be let out.
"We'll buy you a new one today," I promised, brushing a strand of brown hair back from her forehead. "Anything you want. And we're going to go get some breakfast at that diner down the road."
There was no knocking on the door this time, but my phone—a cheap prepaid model Chief Miller’s office had handed me before we left the station—buzzed against the Formica table. The screen lit up with an unknown number.
I picked it up and pressed accept without speaking.
"Sarah," David’s voice came through the speaker, crisp, controlled, and devoid of any human warmth. "We need to talk before you make a public spectacle of yourself down at the courthouse. Your things are still in the master bedroom. I'm willing to overlook this little episode if you come home quietly this morning and sign a mutual separation agreement stating you were away receiving medical treatment."
I looked over at Maya, who was watching me with wide, watchful eyes, then toward the window where Clara’s car was just pulling into the gravel parking lot, her headlights blinking twice in the morning light.
"The pool house door is open, David," I said, my voice remarkably steady. "And the whole county knows what's inside. Talk to my lawyer."
I hit the red end button before he could answer, walked over to the nightstand, and pulled the battery out of the plastic casing, letting the pieces clatter against the cheap wood.
Maya slipped off the bed, walked over to her light blue dress, and picked it up, folding it neatly over her arm. "Are we going now?" she asked.
May you like
"Yeah, baby," I said, taking her small hand in mine as the motel door swung open to let the morning air inside. "We're going now."
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