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let some crazy woman who fancied herself as one of God’s winged army drag me all the way to Oregon. I hopped into the driver’s seat and put my fingers to the keys in the ignition, then paused, cursed, and let my forehead drop against the steering wheel.
    I couldn’t leave her. She was totally certifiable, but mostly harmless, and completely helpless. There was no way I could abandon this woman at a gas station. She needed a hospital, or family, or something. At the very least, I had to bring her back to her car at Busey’s. I ground my teeth, reminding myself that she’d kidnapped me and thus had given up her rights to my assistance, but it was no good. Whether I liked it or not, she was mine until I could pawn her off on someone else. I closed my eyes, took a few deep breaths, then pulled the keys out of the ignition and tucked them in my pocket.
    “Hey, you’re still here,” she said, grinning as she held up a green and white doughnut bag. “I’m so glad. They have Krispy Kremes here, can you believe our luck?”
    I tossed her duffel bag into the Airstream and locked it, then handed her her backpack.
    “What the hell were you thinking?” I asked her. “If I wasn’t such a nice person, you’d be going to jail right now.”
    “Well, you’re supposed to go to Fletcher, and you weren’t going to go, so I did what I had to do. I knew you’d be mad, but you have to understand. This is what I was sent to do.”
    “To kidnap me? To inject yourself in my life, which is none of your business, by the way, and—” I paused and straightened. “How did you know I wasn’t going to go? I said last night I was going. I told Digs that I’d be there.”
    “Really?” She crinkled her nose. “Hmmm. He told me you weren’t going.”
    “But I told him I was.”
    “Well. I guess he didn’t believe you.”
    “ Whatever ,” I said. “That doesn’t give you the right to—”
    “I don’t have the right. I have the responsibility. The Universe directed me.”
    “Oh, hell,” I said. “Not this crap again.”
    “I came by this morning to check on you,” she said, “and this big guy from the lot across the way comes out of nowhere and asks me if we need help disconnecting the water, electric and sewer.”
    “That’s Burly and Unemployed,” I said. “He just wanted more beer.”
    “Then I came in to check on you, but you were passed out. And your keys were right on the counter next to a map with directions out west.”
    “To Colorado Springs,” I growled.
    Jess threw her hands up in the air. “Look, maybe the Universe has to hit you over the head with a brick before you hear Her talking, but I don’t need that.”
    I rubbed my hand over my face, trying to remember that I was dealing with a woman who’d anthropomorphized the Universe and made it a girl. She thought she was an angel. I could not expect her to be rational. I set my voice to calm, and spoke in strong, even tones.
    “Okay. Look. Here’s how it’s gonna work. I will bring you wherever you need to go. Either back to Busey’s and your car or I can drop you off with family or friends or—and here’s my vote—a mental health institution. Angel’s choice.”
    “Really?” She beamed. “Anywhere I want to go?”
    I sighed in relief. No arguments. Happy expression. She clearly had a place in mind. This was going to work out just fine. Everything was going to be fine.
    “Yes,” I said. “I will take you wherever you need to go. Just tell me where, and who I’m dropping you off with.”
    She reached into her purse and withdrew a large white envelope, then handed it to me. I looked down at the elegant calligraphy, stunned. Leave it to Lilly Lorraine to have official invitations printed up even for a small courthouse wedding. I looked up at Jess, who was grinning so wide I had sympathetic cheek pains.
    “Digs invited me to be his date,” she chirped.
    I waved the invitation in the air. “When did he give you this?”
    “When I took