The Weekday Brides 04 - Single by Saturday (26 page)

“Why are mobile home parks always off a highway?” Karen asked.

“Cheap land.”

“Do you think Nolan would keep Becky here?”

“If I remember right, Nolan’s dad is an alcoholic. I doubt Nolan would expose Becky to that.”

“Eweh. Not good.”

Zach pulled his truck to the side of the road in front of Nolan’s childhood home and cut the engine. “Wait here. I’ll see if he’s home.” He glanced behind the truck. “I don’t see his car.”

He jogged up the short steps of the singlewide and knocked on the door. It wasn’t quite dusk, but the sun was low enough on the horizon for the lights of the TV set to flicker through the windows. When no one answered the door, he knocked longer and harder.

“Coming. Damn!”

Zach backed up and waited.

The man Zach assumed was Nolan’s father swung the door wide and glared with glossy eyes at him. “Yeah?”

The man reeked of whiskey and stale cigarettes.

“I’m looking for Nolan.”

“You and everyone else. He’s not here.” Instead of offering anything else, the man attempted to close the door.

Zach stopped him by putting his hand on the door. “When did you see him last?”

Mr. Parker glared at Zach’s hand and wobbled on his feet. “You a cop?”

“I’m his boss.”

“Tell you the same thing I told the pigs. He comes and goes as he pleases. And there ain’t no girl here.”

“Do you expect him back?”

“What about comes and goes as he pleases did you misunderstand, boss-man?”

Zach figured that Nolan’s dad didn’t know if he’d be back.

“Thanks.” Zach noticed Karen’s anxious gaze as he rounded the front of the truck. He shook his head as he climbed back into the cab.

“He’s not here.”

“Where do you think he is?”

He shrugged. “We could wait until morning and see if he shows up for work. Talk to him then.”

Karen squeezed the bridge of her nose. “But if I’m wrong and Nolan stayed in town, and Becky ran off…the longer we go without that information the farther away she’ll get. Who knows what will happen to her.”

Zach shifted in his seat and looked at Karen full on. “If you’re right and Nolan is keeping her safe, we’ll find out in the morning.”

“I could be wrong.”

He didn’t think she was. Instead of arguing, he asked, “Where would he stash her then? Not here.” He noticed the streetlight blinking on and a few teenage kids starting to eye his truck.

“Where’s the nearest hotel?”

“Monroe, but I’d think the police would have looked there.”

“Then the next-closest hotel?”

Instead of answering, he pulled his truck away from the Parker home, drove to the freeway, and headed north. He bypassed his job site and drove into Bell ten minutes later. “There are a few motels. Nothing fancy.”

“I’d think Nolan would have to avoid using a credit card.”

“I doubt he has one.”

They drove to every motel, each one seedier than the last. They were told that no one had checked in matching the descriptions of Nolan or Becky.

It was completely dark, but they continued to drive around Bell on the off chance they’d find Nolan’s car parked somewhere. The outskirts stretched for miles, however. Nolan could have Becky anywhere.

“Do you think they could have gone farther?” Karen asked as she looked up the highway.

“The next real town is thirty miles away.”

“That doesn’t feel right.”

“Buck assured me Nolan is showing up for work. If he knows where Becky is, I don’t think he’d stick her miles away.”

“I think we’re going about this all wrong,” Karen said. “If you were eighteen and your girl was knocked up and in need of running away, where would you take her?”

If he’d knocked up a girl at eighteen, he’d have moved her in with his parents, but that obviously wasn’t what Nolan would do.

“If I was Nolan, I’d hold on to my job until I had enough money to split. I wouldn’t spend it at a motel.”

“And if the girl’s parents thought you were hiding her, they’d be watching to see if you left town.” Karen scratched her head. “Is there a back room at the hardware store?”

Zach shook his head. “The storage room is crammed full. But you might be on to something.”

He pulled back onto the freeway and turned off several exits before Hilton. If Nolan was in need of shelter…why not hide in front of everyone?

“Where are we going?”

“Nolan shows up for work, early. The question is how early? Or does he even leave?” The small housing development was dark and quiet as he pulled into the gravel, past the nearly complete houses.

“This is your project?” Karen asked.

“Yeah.”

“Nice. How big are the houses?”

“Smallest model is twenty-three hundred square feet, the largest is twenty-seven-fifty.”

Karen smiled as she looked up at a passing house. “You do nice work, Zach.”

A strange sense of pride filled him. He hadn’t brought her there to show off his skills, but the fact that she’d taken a moment to compliment him made him smile.

He drove beyond the first phase of houses and parked the truck. “If Nolan’s here, he wouldn’t leave his car in plain sight. There are several finished garages to hide a car.”

“He probably saw us driving in if he’s here.”

“Or Becky did.”

They jumped out of the truck and walked around the back of the first row of houses. The moon helped light the way. When Karen tripped over an exposed drainage pipe, Zach took her arm and kept her upright. After she almost fell a second time, he just kept her arm in his hand. He liked it there anyway, he decided.

“We should see a light, or something?” Karen whispered.

“I’d cut the light if I were Nolan.”

Karen stopped walking. “Listen.”

Zach held his breath and closed his eyes. The trickling of water brought his attention to the houses on the other side of the street.

They stayed close to the shadows of a house and peered into the darkness for several minutes. Then he saw a shadow in an upstairs window of the third home in. He pointed for Karen’s benefit. She watched and the shadow reappeared.

“How many doors lead into the house?” she asked.

“Front, back, and garage.”

“I’ll go in the front, since I don’t know my way around. You watch the back door in case they try and run off.”

“Are you always this sneaky, Ms. Jones?”

“I am when I’m on a mission. Now get moving before they spot us.”

He gave a mock salute and kept to the shadows as he rounded the side of the house and around the back. He turned the knob quietly and slid into the dark interior. The house was nearly complete, all that remained to be done was carpet, some painting, and finishing work.

He heard Karen open the front door.

Instead of doing this in the dark, Zach flipped the switch next to the door and illuminated the kitchen. The door to the garage was in his line of sight, and there weren’t any kids running away.

“Becky?” Karen’s voice sang in the empty house, echoing off the bare walls. “Honey, I know you’re here.”

Zach went ahead and opened the door leading to the garage and saw Nolan’s car. “Nolan?” he called out.

“It’s OK you two. We just want to help.” Karen’s voice sounded closer.

Zach walked from the kitchen and noticed her standing at the foot of the stairs.

Above him, the floor squeaked.

“Nolan, buddy, you’re not in trouble here. We just want to talk to you two.” When silence met them, he said. “I saw your car.”

Karen kept her eyes on the stairs and waited. Finally, footsteps sounded above them until Nolan stood holding Becky’s hand at the top of the landing. “She’s not going back to her parents.”

Zach noticed the dark bruise alongside Becky’s face at the same moment Karen gasped.

Karen ran up the stairs and hesitated when Becky flinched at her approach. “Oh, baby. Who did this to you?”

Becky looked at Nolan then back to Karen.

Zach waited at the foot of the stairs and listened.

“You should tell them,” Nolan said. “Maybe they can help.”

Becky nudged closer to Nolan, whose arm slid around her shoulders. When the girl started to cry Zach noticed Karen’s body tense.

“Let’s sit down,” Karen suggested.

Nolan nodded. “We have a couple of chairs up here.”

Zach walked toward them and followed them into the master bedroom where Nolan had blown up an air mattress and had two
folding chairs sitting beside a suitcase. There were food wrappers and a few bottles of water sitting off to the side.

“I clear everything out before anyone shows up,” Nolan explained. “I’m sorry, Mr. Gardner. I didn’t know where else to go. I’ve saved up some money, but not enough.”

Zach waved a hand in the air. “Don’t say another word.” The bruise on Becky’s face and the marks on her arms proved Nolan had more to protect than just the knowledge that his girlfriend was pregnant. If in fact she was. “I meant it when I said you’re not in trouble. We just want to help.”

Nolan and Becky sat on the mattress beside each other, holding hands and looking as scared as mice in a kitchen full of cats.

After Karen took a chair, Zach grabbed the remaining one, turned it around, and straddled it.

When it appeared that the kids weren’t going to talk, Karen let out a heavy sigh.

Chapter Twenty

Karen’s hands shook as she waited for the couple sitting in front of her to talk. The bruise on Becky’s face made her want to hit someone…preferably whoever had struck the teen. The determined but slightly scared expression on Nolan’s face made her want to whisk them both away without any questions at all.

If this was going to be her life’s work, helping kids, runaways…then it started right here, with painful silence and patience.

Zach zipped his lips shut and waited right along with her.

She felt his eyes on her and she offered a smile. He lifted an eyebrow toward Nolan and she shook her head as if asking him just to wait.

“She can’t go back,” Nolan said for the second time.

Becky sat with her head tucked into Nolan’s shoulder, the bruise was still visible for Karen to see and question.

“Is that where the bruises came from? Your parents?” Karen asked softly.

Becky’s reply was a tiny nod.

“Have they hit you before?” Zach asked.

Again, Becky nodded, but said nothing.

“How long have you known about this, Nolan?” Zach’s direct question caught Karen off guard.

Nolan snapped his gaze to Zach. “I didn’t know.” Nolan’s defenses came up like a shield in battle. “Becky told me she fell.”

“No one is blaming you,” Karen told him and glared at Zach.

“I didn’t tell anyone,” Becky mumbled. “It didn’t happen all the time. Just…” Her voice trailed off.

“So you ran away.”

“I had to.” Becky looked at Karen now, her eyes swollen and red.

Karen nodded. “I would, too. Much easier to run away than allow yourself to be hit.”

“I wanted to go to the police,” Nolan told them.

Becky shook her head. “No. Please…”

Karen held back her own thoughts on the subject of the police for now. “How old are you, Becky?”

“Seventeen.”

“Nolan?”

“I’ll be nineteen in three months.”

Karen glanced at Zach. Concern marred his brow.

“So what’s your plan?” Best to figure out what the kids thought they knew and help them come to the right conclusions instead of telling them they weren’t thinking at all.

Nolan sat up straighter. “Becky and I are getting married.”

Karen nodded, as if contemplating that route.

“That way she’ll be emancipated from her parents. Then they can’t make her do anything.”

She scratched her head. “Well. It’s true that a married minor is emancipated from their parents, but in order for a minor to get married they need a parent’s permission.”

Nolan scowled. “But Becky’s pregnant—”

“Nolan!” Becky turned on him quickly and Nolan snapped his mouth closed.

“It’s OK. Zach and I already figured that out,” Karen assured the teenagers.

Their wide eyes watched both of them.

“How?”

“I work with a lot of teens back in California. I know the signs.” She waited for the knowledge that everyone in the room understood the situation to sink in before she popped Nolan’s bubble. “Unfortunately, Becky’s pregnancy doesn’t give her the right to get married without her parents’ consent.”

“But—”

“It’s the law. Meant to keep kids from making lifelong mistakes.”

“But we love each other. And now with the baby…”

Becky went back to staring at anything but her or Zach.

“You want to do the right thing, Nolan…we understand that,” Zach said. “Marriage is a big step.”

“So is having a baby.”

“Yep. Huge,” Karen added. “The baby will come whether you’re ready or not. Marriage on the other hand doesn’t have to happen today.”

“But—”

“If you did manage to lie and get a license, Becky’s parents could void the license because of her age. Worse, they could try and bring charges against you because you’re considered an adult.”

Nolan’s blank expression made Karen pause.

“Nolan hasn’t done anything wrong,” Becky muttered.