“Do you mind if we make a quick stop?” Bella asked. “I promise it’ll just take a minute.”
“Sure,” I said. “No problem.”
We headed west on the highway, back toward Fort Walton Beach, the sky a mixture of pinks and blues as dusk settled in.
She pulled the car into the lot of a small strip mall and parked in front of a laundromat.
She squeezed the wheel with both hands and her shoulders dropped. “Meet my other employer.”
I could see long rows of washer and dryers on the other side of the dirty front window. “Here?”
She nodded. “Yeah. Couple days a week, Jackson and I sit in a tiny office and wait for people to tell me one of the machines ate their quarters.”
“Not a bad gig.”
She made a face. “Doesn’t pay much and it’s boring. I’m trying to find something else to replace it. I also do the bank runs. That’s what I need to do now, grab the bag so I can deposit it tomorrow morning.”
“Okay.”
She glanced in the back seat. “If he wakes up, tell him I’ll be right back.”
I twisted in my seat. Jackson’s head hung to the side, his eyes shut tight, his mouth wide open, sleeping soundly.
I smiled. “Will do.”
She got out and shut the door quietly.
I watched her pull the door to the laundromat open and disappear inside.
I liked Bella. I liked how she treated her son and I liked that she didn’t seem to mind working hard to take care of him. She was clearly anxious over her situation, but she also seemed to possess a confidence and determination that most people in her situation might not have.
Jackson stirred behind me and I turned around. He rolled his head from one side to the other and murmured something that I couldn’t understand. His small hands twitched in his lap and he let out a long sigh before lapsing back into an even sleep. He looked like his mom and for one brief moment, I thought about Liz and what a child of hers might have looked like. A child of ours.
I whipped back around, trying to dislodge the image and thought, trying to focus on the building in front of me.
The door to the laundromat swung open.
And my heart stopped.