Jennifer stared at her father. Was he seriously kicking her out of the truck this late at night?
“Get out,” he growled again and made a lunge toward her.
She jumped onto the curb, afraid her father would come after her, afraid he’d slap her right then and there for sneaking out, for talking back, for getting angry and hitting him.
What she didn’t expect was for him to slam the Chevy door and drive off.
She stood there on the sidewalk in front of the school, shivering in the cold, waiting for the red glow of his taillights.
Dad sped through a stop sign and disappeared from view.
Jennifer hugged herself to ward off the cold and waited. Ten minutes. Fifteen minutes. Had he already gone home?
When she was finally convinced that he wasn’t returning for her, she felt into her pockets for change. She didn’t have any coins left, and even if she did, she didn’t know who she should call. Shawna? Kylee?
She had Darren’s number memorized. Even though she’d never called him before, she’d spent hours staring at his last name in the phone book, wondering if one day she’d ever have the courage to give him a ring.
It couldn’t be tonight, though. What she had to ask herself was whose parents would be the most likely to be awake past midnight. That and who would be least likely to get upset if Jennifer woke them up.
She could walk home, but it was totally dark out. Dark and freezing. She wished Darren were here with her. She couldn’t believe that such a short time ago she was sitting next to him on Kylee’s couch, their legs touching. He’d kissed her, right? What if he’d only been trying to give her a hug and his lips accidentally touched hers? Did that still count?
What if he already regretted spending time with her?
What if he and Lisa were together right now?
She couldn’t think like this. It was late, but Kylee must still be awake. Jennifer could call her or just walk over to her place. She could walk to Kylee’s and spend the night there. Give her dad time to sleep it off. In the morning, he wouldn’t be so upset.
She still couldn’t believe he’d driven off like that. For a split second, Jennifer was sickened by a terrifying thought. What if her dad had gotten into a car accident? What if he’d only been planning to scare her, to teach her a lesson, and he had a heart attack behind the wheel or something? Just last week, the doctor had told him he needed to exercise more and lose weight. The tiny aspirin pill he took once a day wasn’t enough to keep his heart healthy as he got older.
Was it possible something had happened to her dad? She had to find out.
She took a step off the curb then saw headlights coming down from the school parking lot. Good. Her dad really had just meant to scare her. He probably drove around the neighborhood until he figured she was adequately spooked, then drove through the football field entrance and was coming back now to pick her up.
He’d apologize when she got into the truck, but she wasn’t going to let him get off so easily. What had he been thinking?
The car slowed down, but it wasn’t until it was just a few feet away from the curb when Jennifer realized it wasn’t her father after all.
“Jennifer Harris? Is that you? What in the world are you doing out here? Get in the car.”
He leaned over to open the passenger door. Jennifer hadn’t realized until now how much she’d been shivering.
She gave him a little smile, hoping he wouldn’t ask too many questions. What would she tell him to explain how she ended up out here in the cold?
He locked the doors as she was buckling up. “You must be freezing.” His voice was full of worry. He sounded so concerned for her safety, Jennifer thought she might start crying.
“Let me turn up the heat,” he said, and soon the hot air was blowing on her at full blast.
“First question for you,” he said when Jennifer’s teeth finally stopped chattering. “Are you safe?”
She nodded.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
He let out a relieved sigh. “That’s all I wanted to know. Now, tell me where you need to go. Let’s get you out of this cold.”