Back in our reality, I woke up to Steph puking before dawn, heavy heaves that sounded as if she was trying to bring up a swallowed elephant. We’d parked the RV at a truck stop on the outskirts of Baton Rouge, Troy too tired to drive anymore, and Mom and Barry not offering to exit from under their covers. Steph came out of the bathroom, wiping her mouth with her sleeve, her face mashed with tears. Troy went to comfort her but she pushed him away and got into the top bunk in the back, where she curled up in a fetal position and cried some more.
“What gives?” his eyes seemed to say to me, and I shrugged. He went to go after her, but I shook my head.
“She can get in a mood,” I said. “Best to let her be.”
“‘Let Her Be,’ like the Beatles.”
I gave a polite laugh even though I didn’t find it funny because that wasn’t the title of the song.
“Let’s get breakfast,” he said, and I threw on a hoodie over a Spuds MacKenzie shirt that smelled of BO. We migrated to an all-night diner at the rest stop and ate this dish called coush-coush, cornmeal with bacon drippings.
“You don’t like me much, do you?” he asked.
I was on my first cup of coffee and hadn’t fully woken yet. All I could give was a shrug.
“I’m not trying to muscle in on your family,” he said while checking out a waitress’s butt. “I really am into your sister.”
I tilted my head toward the waitress whose butt he just ogled.
“Nothing wrong with a little lookin’. Your sister isn’t like any other girl I’ve met before. She, like, sparkles.”
“That’s cause she’s gassy.”
“What?”
I downed the cup of coffee and flagged the waitress over for another. “Keep ’em comin’,” I said.
“Well, aren’t you a little man,” she said in her thick Louisiana twang and shuffled off.
“I know your dad wants me to do one last job with you guys, but I’d like to stick around.”
I blew my bangs out of my eyes. “I haven’t seen Steph this happy. Don’t break her heart.”
He chuckled out of the corner of his mouth. “Oh yeah? Is that a threat?”
“Total threat. I’ll kill you if you hurt her.”
He patted the table with a drumbeat. “Respect, man. I hear you. I have the best intentions.”
“I’ll believe it when I see it.”
From out of the window, I watched Steph leave the RV in an oversized sweatshirt, the sleeves long like a straitjacket. We’d left a note for everyone that we’d gone to the diner, so she ran over.
“Coffee,” she said to the waitress once she slumped into the booth. “Must have a stomach bug or something. I haven’t puked like that since the night I did Goldschläger shots. What the hell are you guys eating?”
“It’s kinda like grits,” Troy said.
“Barf city.”
She ordered a bagel with peanut butter.
“Are you feeling better?” Troy asked, running his fingers through her hair.
“I might puke again. But yeah, a little better.”
“Mom and Dad get up yet?” I asked, and Steph gave me a look like, what do you think?
“Does anyone else think this Houston plan is ridiculous?” she asked.
I didn’t want to say anything, but I’d been thinking that too.
“I know. A Federal Reserve Bank,” I said, and Steph interrupted.
“I don’t even know what that is, but it sounds like it’s out of our league,” she added.
“We haven’t made enough to stop now,” Troy said. “Less than twenty thousand each, that’s decent money but not life-changing.”
“Why do we need life-changing money?” Steph asked. “When Mom was my age, she’d dropped out of school to follow bands. She had, like, no pressure. When you guys…” She lowered her voice. “…rob, it’s all on me to get us away. Like, I’m waking up from nightmares of a bloody Dad jumping into the RV. Maybe that’s why I’ve been puking?”
“Something’s different with him,” I said, then wanted to swallow it back, but Steph gave a cool nod.
“He’s mega lost it,” Steph said. “I don’t think he can see past dollar signs.”
“I thought about what would’ve happened if either of us were shot,” I said. “Would he have taken us to a hospital?”
No one responded. I hated talking bad about Barry, but it felt good to get this off my chest. I would never tell him this, at least not at this time. I was glad to hear that Steph had the same concerns.
“Listen, listen,” Troy said, his arm around Steph. “We do this last job and then quit. Go to a foreign city, wherever we want. Me and you,” he said into her eyes. “We can leave your family.”
A twitch traveled up my spine when he said this.
“Sorry, Aaron,” he said, as if he’d forgotten I was there. “I meant away from your parents. You can come with us?”
The thought of being trapped with the two lovebirds for the rest of my life was too nauseating to imagine.
“Point is, none of you are bound to them,” Troy continued. “Once we net a certain amount of money, you don’t need them anymore.”
Steph nuzzled into his shoulder. He lifted up her chin to kiss.
“I have pukey breath,” she said.
“I don’t care.”
They swapped spit, and I spun out of the booth. Outside, the hot sun melted over the pavement. I sat on the burning cement, knees tucked to my face. I had never imagined a world without my parents before, one where I could be free. I would miss them, sure, but life might be easier without their narcissistic drama. It didn’t mean I never had to see them again, we simply didn’t have to live together.
“No,” I said, shaking my head. These thoughts had only crept in because we were stuck in such close quarters. That wouldn’t be for too much longer. And if the next job was a success, we’d kick ourselves for not going along with Barry’s plan. I had to be his good soldier for a little bit longer, get everyone else on board. Then, when we were rolling in it, I could decide what my future would be.
I went back inside the diner to convince Steph. And because she had such a simple brain, it wasn’t hard to sway, especially after she got up to run to the bathroom again, and I told Troy he had to help convince her, too. It was too early to go against Barry and Mom; we didn’t have enough of a justifying reason yet.
That would come later.