“Hey, there’s a gas station coming up, and it’ll be the last one for a while. Do you kids wanna make a pit stop?"
“I thought you’d never ask, Dad!”
“Okay, let Drew know we’re stopping.” Dad wasn't one to talk for long on the phone, so the next thing I heard was him ending the call.
Drew glanced at me for a split second then focused on the road again, smiling. “We’re stopping, I take it? Hopefully, this place has a cleaner bathroom and better food than the last place.”
Cowboy General Store—that was the name scrawled on the sign of the place we stopped. Northwestern Louisiana was a patchwork of lush shades of green. There was no shortage of trees in this part of the state. In fact, we’d passed a pile of cut down trees stacked on the side of the road when we came off the exit. Needing to use the restroom badly, I left Drew to gas the car up and talk across the pumps with Dad. The heavenly smell of fresh, gas station pizza filled the air as I reached the door, and my stomach growled with anticipation. When I walked in the store, the slow drone of chatter came to an abrupt end as some of the truckers who were passing through eyeballed me with obvious hatred. For the first time since we’d stopped anywhere along the route, I felt threatened. Even though my bladder screamed in retaliation, I started to back out the door again.
“Y’all boys stop lookin at the gal like that! Can’t you see yer scarin the poor thing! Come on in out of the heat, Darlin, and don’t you pay these blockheads no never mind.”
She was a portly middle-aged woman standing behind a wide counter with an equally wide grin. Hers was a bright, genuine smile that put my anxiety at ease. The bell on the door jingled when I let it swing closed again and took a timid step inside. Cautiously I walked toward the warm smiling woman and past the less than welcoming sneers of the truckers.
“What can I do for you, Sugar?”
“I need a restroom ma’am,” I said to her, trying my best to ignore the disgusted glares of the men.
“Well, that’s no problem, but our women’s is out at the moment. Dog-on piping busted cleanout in there. The floor’s flooded. You’ll have to use the men’s room. Just make sure you lock the door, so no one waltzes in while yer squattin. That’d be unfortunate!” I gave her a shy nod, and she returned it with a warm grin and sparkling eyes.
I thanked her and moved toward the men’s room, fully aware that the truckers' gazes were following my every move. I was careful to lock the door as she’d instructed before using the facility. Echo decided to pick that moment to start in on me. I had felt her aggravation over me sitting in one place so long, but she’d yet to have voiced it. She seemed to go silent when Drew was anywhere near me lately. I’d chalked it up to her being considerate, as much of a foreign concept as that was for Echo.
What on earth were you thinking, Eden. Echo whined in that high pitch voice I couldn’t stand, and it instantly got my hackles up. I hate it when you sit still for so long—you know it makes me anxious.
“I know, Echo, I’m sorry—and you know damn well why I want to go to Louisiana.” I opened the stall door and went to wash my hands.
I felt much better until I peered in the mirror and saw what I looked like. Man, was my hair a windblown mess. Humiliation settled over me as I regarded my reflection, and I sighed, annoyed by the emotion that wasn’t mine.
“Echo, why do you care so much about what I look like,” I asked into the empty bathroom.
Because I am in here too and like it or not, what you look like is how WE look. You should put a little more time and care into your appearance, she scolded. “And you’re right; I do know what you’re up to. You are going to try and find out who your father is by using what little information I gave you about him. Good luck with that.
“Did it ever occur to you that maybe his family did know about you, Echo? Did you consider that for even a moment? If they were as influential as you said, and given what you’ve told me about them, you’d be an unwanted blight on their family name. To my way of thinking if they knew about you, and also knew you were pregnant—that might be grounds for murder.”
I glared at my reflection with contempt, knowing Echo could see the expression on my face. I was met with hurt silence. Echo didn’t say a word, but I could feel the denial in her emotions. She didn’t want to consider the possibility that her demise was tied in any way to the only man she’d ever loved. I felt the stinging kiss of remorse as I scrambled for the words to apologize.
“Listen, Echo, I know it is a tough pill to swallow, but let’s be honest. Nothing else makes sense; I’ve seen your memories, well some of them from before you got pregnant with me. Everyone loved you. You had no enemies. None! Spiteful girls, yes, but enemies, no, yet at the tender age of sixteen someone wanted you and your unborn child, ME—they wanted us dead. I need to know who my father was and maybe I can learn something from there. I'm not saying that Danny killed you. So, get that out of your head.” I opened the door to the men’s room and almost ran into Drew’s chest.
I took a step back and looked up at him, his hand poised
