Ella wrinkled her nose at Sawyer. “We want to start our own group like The Slayers.”
“No,” Harper said.
“They’re cool,” Ella argued. “Those girls are scaring all the dumb boys who did bad things to them.” She propped a hand on her hip. “You always lecture me about what to do if someone ever touches me inappropriately. If something happened to me or my friends, don’t you think they should be punished for what they did?”
Sawyer watched as Harper grappled with what to say. Ella knew very little about her mom’s past, which sort of put Harper between a rock and a hard place. How do you teach your daughter to stand up for herself without becoming a bully? It was especially difficult when every situation called for a different approach.
Harper lifted her daughter’s chin. “If someone ever touches you, push them away and scream as loud as you possibly can.”
“What if they won’t stop?”
Harper placed her hands on Ella’s shoulders. “Then you need to run. Run as fast as you can and don’t stop until you find help.”
“Ready to go,” Lennon said when he reappeared. He stopped and looked around at all the somber faces. “What happened? What did I miss?”
“Nothing,” Harper said before fixing her gaze on Sawyer and then Aria. “What are you two doing here?”
Sawyer spoke up first. “I’m here to take your son for a driving lesson. We’ll only be an hour.”
“And I’m going back to my place,” Aria said. “I saw Sawyer’s car and thought I’d just run over and say hello.”
Harper waved them all away, then shut the door.
“What’s wrong with her?” Sawyer asked Lennon.
“Mom and Dad aren’t getting along.”
“You were here when Nate returned home from his trip,” Aria said.
Sawyer exhaled. “I guess I hoped they would have worked things out by now.”
“Mom slept on the couch last night,” Lennon said. “After Dad left for work, she moved to the bedroom.”
“Everything will work out,” Aria told Lennon. “You two should get going. Good luck!”
Sawyer’s plan had been to drive to the high school a mile away and have Lennon drive around the parking lot, but he convinced her he was ready for the streets of Sacramento. Since there was less traffic on Sunday, Sawyer agreed.
Lennon buckled up. Sawyer was glad she didn’t have to tell him to put on his blinker before merging onto the road. They drove for a couple of blocks before he was able to make a smooth stop. “Not bad,” Sawyer said.
They drove to Midtown, where there were more pedestrians than cars and the lanes were narrow. When she shifted in her seat, she caught a glimpse of the same green car she’d seen outside her apartment and then at the prison.
“What’s wrong?” Lennon asked.
“Nothing.”
“You sound like my mom. Why can’t you just tell me what the hell you’re looking at?”
Sawyer lifted an eyebrow. She’d never heard Lennon curse before. The anger that had crept into his voice was also a surprise. And yet she understood. Harper had been keeping secrets from them all, and it was obviously getting to Lennon. “There’s a green car, one of those tiny automobiles, two cars back. I think I’ve seen that same mint-green car before.”
“Do you think someone’s following you?”
“I do.”
Lennon glanced in his rearview mirror. “I see it. It’s a Kia Soul.”
Sawyer gestured toward the road in front of them. “Just keep your eyes on the road ahead, please.”
“Should I pull to the side of the road and see if the car passes?”
“If you find a convenient spot to pull into, go ahead. Otherwise, forget it.”
He came to a stop at the light. Lennon peered into his mirror.
“Just don’t look over your shoulder, okay?” Sawyer asked. “I don’t want whoever is in the car to know we’re onto them.”
“Got it. The driver is the only one in the car. He or she is wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses.”
“Can you see the license plate number?”
“No.”
“Hair color? Facial hair?”
“It’s too hard to see with the other car in the way.”
The light turned green. Lennon put on the gas, then pulled into an empty spot up ahead.
The car behind them swept by, followed by the green Kia Soul.
“The license plate number started with 6T,” Lennon said.
Sawyer added, “And it ended with the number three.” While Sawyer made note of it on her phone, Lennon hit the gas and jerked the wheel to the left. Sawyer fell to her right.
The car behind them honked.
Sawyer grabbed on to the dashboard. “What are you doing?”
“Let’s get the rest of the license number.”
“I’m not even sure the car was following us.”
“Well, let’s find out.”
Sawyer hoped they had lost the Kia Soul since Lennon didn’t have his license yet. “Maybe I should drive.”
“I have a permit and I’m a good driver. You said so yourself.”
“Did I say that?”
He didn’t answer, just kept his eyes focused on the road. “I see the car,” Lennon said excitedly. “It’s stopped at the next light.” He pulled up as far as he could before stopping. “There are two cars and a truck between us.”
“Okay. You can follow the Kia Soul, but no speeding.”
“Got it.”
When the light turned green, the truck in front of them turned left, leaving two vehicles between them and the Kia. One of the cars pulled into a Safeway parking lot. The other went straight. The Kia was in the left-hand turn lane.
As Lennon drew closer, the Kia jerked to the right, cutting off oncoming traffic, making more than a few vehicles swerve and honk.
Before Sawyer could catch her breath, Lennon jerked the wheel to the right and put on the gas.
“Slow down!”
“No way. The Kia is way ahead. We’ve got to catch up.”
“Your mother would kill me if she saw us now. Pull over.”
“There it is!”
The excitement in his voice reminded Sawyer of the time she’d taken Lennon to a Sacramento Kings’ game. Every time his favorite player made a basket, he went berserk.
But he was right. The green Kia Soul was up ahead. The car made a left into an alleyway.
So did Lennon.
He slammed on the brakes. He had no choice. They watched the Kia speed through the narrowest alleyway she’d ever seen, one side lined with dumpsters, making it impossible for them to follow without destroying Sawyer’s car.
“Looks like the Kia lost us,” Lennon said excitedly. “At least now you know someone is definitely following you.”
“Yeah,” Sawyer said. “Looks that way.” She just couldn’t muster up the same excitement Lennon was clearly feeling.
She waited for Lennon to back up and get out of there, but he simply looked at her with a silly grin on his face. Was he waiting for a compliment? “You did great. Let’s go home.”
“I got it,” he said, still smiling.