That seemed to reassure them somewhat.
“Last chance,” Lara said. “Speak up now—”
“I’m good,” Blaine said again.
“Yeah, me too,” Bonnie nodded, and this time she said it quicker and with more conviction.
Lara wanted to tell them something reassuring, make a speech that would ease their minds. She tried to come up with words that Will would say to rally the troops as they prepared to go into battle.
Instead, the only thing she could think of to do was glance down at her watch. “Let’s get something to eat before you guys go.”
“Maddie’s relieving me in a few hours,” Blaine said.
“Okay, I’ll send her over earlier.”
If having someone in the Tower twenty-four hours a day was important before, it was imperative now. So she, Keo, and Bonnie walked down using the spiraling cast-iron staircase while Blaine stayed behind.
Keo wandered ahead, and Lara used the moment to walk beside Bonnie.
“I’m volunteering because I want to, Lara,” Bonnie said before Lara could ask the question that had been on her mind since she saw Bonnie waiting for them on the third floor.
“Can I ask why?”
“You don’t know?”
“Should I?”
“Because someone had to, or else you would have volunteered. And we couldn’t allow that.”
“‘We’?”
“Carly, me, Benny, Roy… Everyone.”
The ‘we’ strikes again.
This wasn’t the first time the island had made a decision for her because they believed it was for her own good. It was ironic because she was supposedly running the place in Will’s absence. And yet, whenever they felt like it, the others always got together and discussed what was best for her. She should have been angry about it, even pissed off, but she couldn’t, really, because they were almost always right.
“One of us had to go with Blaine and Keo,” Bonnie continued. “Carly wanted to. So did Maddie. And Benny and Roy, and even Jo and Gwen. But in the end, we decided I was the best choice.”
“Why you?”
Bonnie laughed. “You sound so surprised.”
“I…” Lara began, but didn’t finish because everything she would have said would have come out as an insult to Bonnie.
“I know,” Bonnie said with a grin. “The ex-model? I don’t blame you. All I can say is, you have to trust me, because compared to the rest, I’m the best choice. I was always athletic as a kid. I played basketball when I was in high school and I’ve stayed pretty active over the years. It was either stay skinny by sweating your ass off or throw up everything you ate, and I was never good at chucking food.”
Lara smiled.
“So yeah, between everyone, I’m the obvious choice,” Bonnie said.
“All of this, so I wouldn’t volunteer myself?”
“Yes.” Bonnie gave her an earnest look. “You’re important to the island, Lara. More than the rest of us.”
“I don’t know what to say, Bonnie.”
And she didn’t. She had no idea whatsoever. Because Bonnie was right. She would have gone with Keo and Blaine if no one else had stepped forward. Keo had made it clear — he could have done with one, but he preferred two. Three people gave them the best chance at success, and right now, they needed success in the worse way until Will and Danny could come home.
“Thank you,” Lara said. It was the only thing she could think of to say, and it felt too simple and unworthy of Bonnie’s sacrifice.
She wondered if Bonnie had even heard her, though, because the other woman looked preoccupied with Keo, who was walking ahead of them. “You really think he’s as good as he thinks he is?” she asked.
“From what Carrie and Lorelei told me, he’s pretty damn good,” Lara said.
“And you think this could work?”
“I hope this works.”
“What happens after that? I know you just want to delay them for a few days until Will and Danny can get here. But what happens after that?”
“I don’t know,” Lara said quietly. “I’m just trying to get us to tomorrow first…”
25
Gaby
She should have killed the kid. Darren. Well, he wasn’t really a kid. He was older than her by a few years, but to Gaby, anyone with a rifle who couldn’t put up a fight was a kid. Of course, killing Darren went out the window as soon as he started crying. Even Claire had looked almost sickened by the sight of that.
So they had left the collaborator on the side of the road and taken his truck. It was a Chevy Silverado, though one truck was the same as another to Gaby. It had a high perch, which allowed her to see a lot of the road up ahead, something that she liked. It was also powerful, and she finally understood why boys loved their trucks so much. It was hard not to feel as if you could run over just about anything behind the wheel of one of these monsters because, in all likelihood, you probably could. All she needed from it at the moment was to get her to Song Island.
Donna and Milly were stuffing themselves with food and refilled bottles of water in the back. Claire, who sat shotgun in the front passenger seat, leaned over every now and then to grab some for herself. Each time she did, Gaby resisted the instinct to tell her to put on her seat belt. She had to keep reminding herself that she wasn’t the girl’s mom, though she felt a strange connection to her, even more so than to Milly, whom she had known longer.
It was still morning, and the sun baked the empty vastness to both sides of them. The hot asphalt road shimmered and looked like water in front of her, and the nothingness made her feel like she was daydreaming. It should have made her comfortable and lulled her into something resembling serenity, but instead it only made her more alert and sit up straighter in the leather seat.
It was Josh. She couldn’t stop thinking about him. About what he had become, what he was doing. She kept looking at her side mirror, expecting to see him coming up behind her at any moment, declaring his love for her, that he was doing all of this for her, while bringing along a small army of lackeys.
Keep lying to yourself, Josh. Maybe one day you’ll actually believe it.
“Is it far from here?” Claire asked after a while. She talked through a mouthful of bread and pieces of sausage.
“Where’d you get that?” Gaby asked.
“Back here,” Donna said, holding up a blue plastic Tupperware with more sausages inside. “It’s pork.”
“How’s the bread?”
“It’s about a day old. Still pretty good, though.”
Donna pulled off a chunk and leaned forward. Gaby gobbled it up and chewed for a moment, keeping one hand on the steering wheel and her eyes outside the windshield the entire time. The last thing she needed was to run them into a ditch while trying to eat. All those “Don’t Text and Drive” commercials flashed through her mind all of a sudden. That and those “Click it or Ticket” billboards.
The good old days…
Donna was right. The bread was still pretty good. Then again, it had been a while since she had last eaten some. They had frozen dough on the island, but these actually tasted fresh. Or, at least, one-day fresh. Donna handed her one of the pork sausages and Gaby devoured that, too. It was even better when she stuffed the remaining parts into the bread and ate it like a hot dog.