The front of the restaurant looks just like a barn with cartoon font that reads “Hogs Galore.” I pull on the glass door and let Kendra go in first. The smell of barbecue wafts through the air and my stomach rumbles despite the fact I just ate.

A pleasantly plump lady with sparkling white hair swooped up in a French twist, smiles from behind the register at the front counter. “G’morning y’all! Welcome to Hogs Galore! My name is Ms. Judy J, and I would love to help y’all when you’re ready.”

I rest my hand on the counter and lean in. “Do you have a restroom we could use?”

“Yes ma’am! Just head on over there to the left.” She motions with her finger toward a wide hallway that extends beyond the counter. “It’ll be in the meat market.”

“Thank you.” I grab Kendra by the arm and drag her toward the meat market. “I really thought this was just a restaurant.” Kendra either doesn’t hear me or is too lost in her own head to respond.

We weave through the racks of food and find the restrooms in the back. I push the door open and pull Kendra inside with me. Even though it’s only a one stall kind of bathroom, I don’t think either one of us wants to be left standing alone in a strange place.

Kendra stares at me and I can tell that the wheels are grinding in her head. I’ve been there before myself. She’s playing the whole thing over and over in her head. What could she have done differently, all of the what-if’s.

Once I’m done, I start washing my hands as she uses the toilet. She’s eerily quiet. I don’t think Kendra has ever had a run-in like that before. I move to stand against the back wall and wait for her. When she turns around, I can see her eyes are welling up.

“Hey, you okay?” I reach over and touch her on the shoulder. Just as my fingers touch her, she rushes me with a hug.

“What if we didn’t make it away from them? What if they killed us? What if they just tortured us?” She pulls back and is within inches of my face. Her words shudder as she whispers, “What if they find us again?”

I can’t tell her that they won’t because that’s a very plausible possibility. I pull her back into the hug and rub her back. “I don’t know. I don’t know if they will find us again, but we can’t play the what-if game. It’s not going to help either one of us.”

She pulls back from me again and drops her arms. As she nods in agreement, she wipes the tears on the back of her hand. “How can you be so calm?”

I shrug my shoulders and shake my head. “I don’t honestly know. All I know is that I’ve been in these kind of situations with Mike. Never with a random stranger, but I also didn’t have any emotional attachment to those two either, so it didn’t bother me if I had to hurt them to get away. It always bothered me if I had to hurt Mike. Or when I did hurt Mike. Despite him being an asshole, I did still love him. Now Smokey Joe and Hank, not so much. They were gross and icky. I just wanted to get away from them.”

Kendra starts sobbing, snot and all. I rub her shoulders, but it just seems to make it worse. “I-I c-can’t b-breathe. I-It w-was s-s-so bad!” Kendra bends over, placing her hands on her knees.

I feel so bad for her, but I have no remorse for what I did to those two guys. None. I’d do it again in a heartbeat. “C’mon, let’s wash your face.” Her breathing is still going faster than it should, but she stands back up. Her bottom lip gets sucked in when she takes a breath, making a farting noise with her mouth. I can’t help but laugh. Her big green eyes look at me and she giggles as best she can while hyperventilating. When she turns and sees herself in the mirror, she touches her cheek.

“Oh m-my goodness. I c-can’t go out there l-looking like this.” She turns on the cold water and runs her hands underneath. She reaches up and wipes the snot from her upper lip, washing it down the drain before splashing cold water on her red, blotchy face.

“I mean…you’ve looked better. Ha ha!”

Her green eyes dart up at me and I can see the old Kendra coming back. She reaches into the water and then throws a handful of water at me. I try to get out of the way fast enough, but she nails me in the side. “Serves you right!” She laughs and then takes in a deep breath. “I don’t want to think about this anymore.” She turns off the water and reaches for the paper towel on the wall next to her.

“We don’t have to think about it anymore. We’ll just keep going. Okay?” I pull my soaked shirt away from my side and try to ring it out, but it’s not wet enough for water to come out of it. “Let’s go get something to drink.”

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Kendra nods her head, checks her splotchy face again in the mirror, sighs and then opens the door. The smell of fried pickles and bacon rushes in at us, making my mouth water. My stomach rumbles loud enough for Kendra to hear it. She turns around and looks at me.

“Are you really hungry? We just ate!”

I shrug my shoulders and give her a little smile. “My stomach is an opportunist, I guess.”

Kendra shakes her head and smirks. “I guess it does smell pretty good in here, huh?”

“Mm-hmm,” I say, nodding my head as she turns back around and walks back toward the restaurant.

Ms. Judy J is wiping down the tables when we walk back into the restaurant. “Howdy girls! Everything come out, okay?” She giggles to herself and then looks up at us. Her face changes from happy-go-lucky to concerned momma when she sees Kendra. She drops her wet rag on the table she was just cleaning, wipes her hands on her stained apron and then reaches out to touch Kendra’s shoulder. “Oh, honey! Whatever it is, it’ll be fine. Now I know, I’m just a stranger, y’all don’t need to tell me nothin’, but I do know that y’all need to just sit on over there and I’ll bring ya’s a drink. What’ll ya have?”

Kendra and I slide into a booth on the side of the room. “I’ll have a diet coke,” and then I patiently wait for Kendra to pipe up and say something, but she doesn’t. “Make that two diet cokes.”

Ms. Judy J nods her head and then places some silverware and napkins on the table. Kendra takes in a deep breath, and I can see that she’s trying to get her shit together but it’s not working. I’m kind of surprised this affected her as bad as it did.

“I’m sorry I’m being such a baby,” Kendra says quietly. Thankfully there aren’t a lot of people in here otherwise I’m afraid I wouldn’t be able to hear her.

“It’s okay. Differently people react differently to different things.”

“I just never felt so vulnerable. When he grabbed my arm and started saying that Little Hank wanted to play…”

Ms. Judy J comes back with our drinks and sets them on the table in front of us. Her eyes get big and then she cocks her head to the side. “Forgive me, girls. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but did you say ‘Little Hank’?”

Kendra’s face turns quickly to face our waitress, and then looks down at the table. She looks ashamed, even though she shouldn’t be.

I decide that if Kendra’s not going to answer her, then I will. “Yeah, two grubby guys roughed us up a little bit at the gas station a ways back. Why?”

Ms. Judy J nudges for me to scoot over in the booth. When I do, she scoots in next to me. “Girls, them two ain’t no good to mess ‘round with.”

I shake my head and raise my hands in protest. “We’re not trying to mess around with them, or anyone for that matter. They attacked us at the gas station. Hank attacked her. The other one never told us his name, but he seemed to like me the most.”

“Hank Jameson and James Pinkerton.” Ms. Judy J sighs and places her hands on the table in front of her. “Did Hank do anything to you, miss?”

Kendra shakes her head, but the question opens the dam and starts the tears flowing again. “No, but he was scary.”

“Oh my, yes he is,” Ms. Judy J says. “Them two are brothers from another mother. They done growed up in the next town over but they’s been trouble ever since then met. They been known to attack ladies, they just ain’t got caught yet. How’d y’all get away?”

Kendra smirks as she stares at the table in front of her. “She sprayed James with gasoline and then dumped hot coffee on his pants.”

Ms. Judy J’s eyes get big as she turns to look at me. “And y’all are okay? Ya don’t seem as bothered as your friend.”

“I was married to an abuser.” As much as I wouldn’t normally just spew that bit of information out, for some reason, I feel very comfortable with Ms. Judy J.

“Ah, yeah, that’ll do it.” Ms. Judy J reaches across the table so that her hand rests on the table in front of Kendra. “I’m gonna make these two drinks to-go cups. Y’all should be on your way. I’ll even get ya an order of them fried pickles to take with ya. They’re a diets worst nightmare, but taste heavenly.”

Ms. Judy J slides back out of the booth and heads up toward the kitchen. Kendra raises her eyes to meet mine. “She knows about them. That’s not good, Effi.”

“Yeah, I know. It sounds like they’re lifers in this kind of life. I don’t think we should stop anywhere for a while. Go as far as our gas will take us, ya know?”

Kendra nods her head and takes in a deep breath. She slides her drink over in front of her face and takes a sip out of the paper straw. She raises her eyes to me before taking another sip. “I’m sorry, Effi. This isn’t how these kind of things usually go. Normally, we get to go on a fun little trip, hunt for an author, explain that we’ll need to get their advance back if they don’t get us the chapters, and then head back out. Other than the little bit of work, it’s a good time. Especially when there’s two of us.”

“It’s okay. I get it. It’s not your fault. You didn’t do anything. In fact, don’t even apologize. You and I were minding our own business. We didn’t pursue them. We didn’t even acknowledge them, did we?”

Kendra’s shoulders slump a little. “I flirted with the one who came on to you.”

I don’t even know what to say. “Flirted?”

Kendra sighs. “Yeah. He had pretty eyes.”

Ms. Judy J starts making her way across the floor with our two drinks in paper to-go cups and a paper bag containing the fried pickles when she stops mid-step. The door behind me opens and when Kendra looks up, the fear on her face tells me that I already know who’s coming inside.