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much for my feeble brain to wrap around at that moment.
    I sat up and put my feet on the rumbling floor and tried to think of a possibility, any possibility, other than the obvious one, which was that Digs had kidnapped me. He’d known I was lying about going to Fletcher, and he’d kidnapped me, the bastard. He’d said he would drag me if he had to, and he did.
    “Bastard,” I muttered. I stood up, but between the hangover and the movement, it took me a while to properly search the Airstream. My cell phone was not in it. I must have left it in the cab of the pickup the night before. I was truly helpless, although he would have to stop for gas eventually, and when he did I’d get my keys back, kick him to the side of the road, and keep heading west.
    To Colorado Springs.
    I crawled back onto the foldout and pulled the curtains on the front window, which looked right into the back of my truck, and almost fell off the bed.
    It wasn’t Digs who had kidnapped me, not unless he’d grown his hair out about six inches and tucked it into two tell-tale ponytails.
    I’d been kidnapped by the angel.
    I swished the curtains shut and thumped back down on the bed in disbelief.
    “You’ve gotta be kidding me,” I muttered to myself and put my hands over my eyes as I waited for the trailer to stop moving.
     
    ***
     
    The Airstream pulled to a stop about an hour later, at a truck stop off I-80, somewhere in the middle of Pennsylvania. Jess was at the door ready to greet me as I burst out of the trailer.
    “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I sputtered. “This is kidnapping, you know. And, and, and... theft . And carjacking. And lots of bad, bad things. You’re lucky I don’t press charges. I might. I could. I could send you to jail. Are you crazy ?”
    A trucker passing by snorted into his coffee cup. I pushed up my sleeves, about to launch into another tirade, when Jess put one hand calmly on my shoulder.
    “The keys are in the ignition,” she said, “but the tank is still filling up. I put it on my credit card, and you’re free to drive off where ever you want to go when it’s done. You were going to go where? Colorado Springs? Well, you’d be headed this way anyway, right?”
    I opened my mouth, but only released managed to release an impotent squeak.
    “This will be what it will be,” she said. “If you send me to jail, then that just means there will be something for me to do there, someone I need to help. If you leave without me and go on to Colorado Springs, then maybe I’ll meet the person I’m supposed to help in the little diner next door. But” –she crossed her arms and watched me, smiling—”for the last couple of hours, you thought you were going back to Fletcher, right? How did that make you feel?”
    “It made me feel like I was being kidnapped.” I pointed my index finger at her. “You? Are insane. How does that make you feel?”
    She squinted in the bright daylight. “You’re at a crossroads here, EJ. You have the opportunity to make a choice. I’m going to get some coffee and doughnuts inside, and if you’re not here when I get back, I’ll understand. If the police come to arrest me, I’ll understand that, too. Still, I’m so glad we met. I don’t think I’ll forget you soon. You’re very...” She stared at me for a long time, as though searching for the right adjective, and I waited for something vague and uncondemning. Interesting. Unusual. Special.
    “...sad,” she said finally.
    I blinked, not sure how to respond. Sad ? That was an insult, right? She wrapped her arms around me and gave me a hug, then released me and nodded to indicate the duffel bag and backpack sitting next to the truck.
    “Don’t run over my stuff,” she said on a wink, then turned and headed toward the mini-mart.
    “Oh, my God,” I muttered, racing to the side of the truck to stop the pump and hang up the nozzle. I wasn’t going to call the cops, I decided, but damned if I was going to