Hold Me

“You’re saying there’s plenty of blame to go around,” she whispered. “Fine. I’ll have that conversation when we find her. But right now all that matters is getting her back.”

They arrived at the camp in record time. Kipling had barely slowed before Destiny jumped out and headed for the main office.

Dakota Andersson was waiting for her with two of Starr’s friends. Both girls looked scared.

“I’m sorry,” Abby said, tears filling her eyes. “She said she wanted to go to Nashville. She’s taking the bus. We both gave her money.”

Dakota put her hand on the girl’s shoulder. “I’ve already called the sheriff’s office. They’re sending a patrol car to the bus station. Small towns have some advantages. Only one bus has gone out this morning. I’m expecting they’ll find her waiting at the station.”

Destiny felt the ground shift beneath her feet. “Nashville?” Because Starr was running away. That was how bad things were. She’d taken in her sister, had agreed to be her guardian and less than two months later, Starr would rather take her chances on the streets than live with Destiny.

How had everything gone so wrong so fast?

* * *

DESTINY DIDN’T KNOW if she should scream, cry or take up drinking. She could make a case for any of those actions, along with several others.

Dakota’s prediction had been right. Starr had been found on a bench in the bus depot. She’d missed the earlier Greyhound that went to Los Angeles and was instead heading to San Francisco. From there, she’d told the deputy who’d found her, she was planning on taking a plane to Nashville.

She’d had five hundred dollars in cash, a small suitcase and her guitar. Destiny couldn’t get over the terrifying thought of an innocent fifteen-year-old girl on her own in the world.

Kipling had driven them both home and left them to work it out. He’d promised to drop by later, to check on them. Destiny had wanted to beg him to stay—she didn’t know what on earth she was supposed to do or say. But she’d let him go and now had to deal with the aftermath herself.

She and Starr sat across from each other in their small living room and tried to figure out what to say. She supposed the good news was that nothing awful had happened. Maybe they’d both learned a cheap lesson. She just wasn’t sure what it was.

She studied her sister. Starr stared at her hands or the floor. Her red hair hung down, covering her face. Or maybe keeping the world at bay, Destiny thought.

The room was quiet. Somewhere a clock ticked. A car drove by. Aside from that, there was nothing. Not even the sound of their breathing.

Indecision pulled at her. What was she supposed to say? How did she make this right? She supposed the bigger issue was she hadn’t known there was a problem—certainly not one that warranted running away.

She drew in a breath. “Starr, I—”

Her sister’s head snapped up. Her green eyes narrowed. “Yeah, I lied. Get over it. You would have done the same if you were me. What was I supposed to do? Just wait for you to get tired of me? I’m not going back to that boarding school. You can’t make me.”

So much anger. So much energy. And so much pain. Destiny felt her heart flinch as she realized how Starr had been suffering. And she’d never guessed.

“You think I don’t know,” her sister continued, coming to her feet. Her hands were tight fists at her sides. “I know. It’s not hard to figure out. Nobody wants me. Not you, not my dad.” Tears spilled from her eyes. “He doesn’t even know when it’s my birthday. I’m his kid. How come he doesn’t know that?”

Destiny stood and crossed to her. She tried to pull Starr close, but her sister shrugged away.

“Don’t pretend you care now,” the teen snapped.

Destiny took a step back. “I care. I took you in. I brought you here. I thought we were doing well together.”

“Oh, sure. It’s great. You’re counting the days until school starts and you can get rid of me. We talked about your job before. About how it was better for me to go back to boarding school. Because you can’t wait to get rid of me.”

While that wasn’t true, Destiny had been thinking she would only have Starr in the summers. “My work,” she began, only to realize that wasn’t the point. “Can we talk?” she asked. “Just sit and talk?”

Starr wiped away her tears and sank back onto the sofa. Destiny took the chair opposite and tried to figure out what to say.

“You scared me,” she began, thinking it was the truth. “When Dakota called from camp and said you’d never arrived, I was so afraid of what had happened.”

“I didn’t think they’d call,” Starr grumbled.

“So you’d have all day to get away? And then what? Didn’t you think I’d totally freak out?”

Her sister shrugged.

“Starr, you have to know I care about you.”

“Do you?” the teen asked. “Do you really? Can you honestly say you were thrilled when you got that call from the lawyer? Because you’d just been sitting here thinking if only you had some kid sister you’d never met, then your life would be perfect?”

“I was surprised, but I didn’t hesitate. I wanted you to come live here.”

“Whatever. I don’t believe you. You don’t care about anything, ever. You’re like a robot. You never get mad, you never get happy. You’re the same all the time. Regular people don’t act like that.”