Counting Paths

Chapter 28.

Sterling

Three days later...
"Sterling, I'm not telling you again. No!" Roland yells. Some people would say that I'm testing his patience that's running very thin at the moment, but I would say I'm making progress!

"Technically, you did tell me again," I point out, and he hits me with the cart. "Ow!"

He scoffs. "I barely hit you."

I continue down the Walmart aisle. We're quiet for a moment, then I blurt out, "I don't see what the big deal is!"

"I can tell." He moves to my side and peers down at me. "You're going behind Moose's back."

I hit his arm. "Don't say that!"

"Why do you want another pet, anyway?"

"I love Moose, she's my baby girl! But she's so big...I dunno, I want something I can carry on my shoulder."

"Did you have something in mind?"

I squeal happily. "Okay! Okay! Before I say anything, just hear me out-" he groans and rolls his eyes. "Hear me out...but I was thinking...maybe a...rat?"

"No!"

"Why not?!"

"Isn't it bad enough that I have a freaking horse of a dog in my house, now you want me to take in something that belongs on the streets?"

"Rats are living creatures."

"That belongs on the streets."

I grab his arm. "Please?"

He rolls his eyes again. "You know, if you're going to be unfair then next time save us both the trouble and start with that."

"Yes!" I spin around. "But wait! Where would we even get a rat? And don't say on the street!"

He chuckles, then the phone in his pocket begins to ring. "I know a guy," he tells me as he pulls out his phone. He answers the call without checking to see who it is. "Yeah?"

I grab the cart from him and continue walking down the aisle.

I stop when I hear Roland behind me say, "Lena? Um, yeah, no, we're good."

I turn and look at him.

"Wait, today?" He says into the phone. "Yeah, we're on our way now."

It's been a while since we last heard from Luna. Roland says that is completely normal. He says it means Lisi's very sick and Luna's too busy, and trying to protect Roland, to reach out to anyone or keep us updated. It's scary. If I were Roland, I would've been losing my mind thinking the worse, fearing the worse, but Roland seems fine. He seems to agree with their little arrangement. I think he's too scared.

"Can we stop by the house and pick up Russell so he can drive?" I ask as we climb into the car.

"You'll be fine."

"Your driving isn't," I mutter under my breath.

Almost two painful hours later, we're in the middle of nowhere. And I don't mean like Roland's neighborhood that's surrounded by woods and the nearest house is a little over half a mile away. We're completely surrounded by the wilderness, the road isn't even a real road, it's all dirt with tire tracks. I want to ask why Luna would live out here with Lisi, I figured they would want to stay close to civilization in case of an emergency, but every time I glance over at Roland, he has one hand on the wheel and the other playing with his watch, a habit he recently developed when he's nervous. Of course, he's nervous, he's about to meet his son for the first time in six years. I'm nervous.