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Chapter One

The smell of exhaust fumes hit me as I stepped off the Greyhound bus and intooff sinceoverback over the shoulder and onto the road

Guess Banks, Idaho wasn’t a hotspot for travelers

I considered h I was literally standing on the side of the highith no phone – thanks again, Mommy Dearest – and no real idea of what to do next

A covered bulletin board caught her onit holds all of ht idly as I perused the board It had the bus schedule and – thank you, God – a ave ured out which as south According to the tiny h Valley to the north, but nothing between here and there I was looking for the only ic should be in the center of the town

I headed south, fingers crossed I was actually going south, and thanked whoever was listening once again that I’d had the foresight to wear tennis shoes when I toldto live with Dad I’d packed my stuff in anticipation of ould no doubt be an epic shon What I hadn’t expected was the sheer vindictiveness she’d displayed When she realized she couldn’t stopof clothes so I’d been choosy since I had no idea what to expect As I hiked along the shoulder of the highway, it was clear I was no longer in the city Massive trees surrounded h deep forest, and I shivered slightly When I’d decided to move in with Dad, I hadn’t really considered the consequences of my decision

My phone confiscated by a petty parent while I tried to figure out how to survive my senior year in the backwoods of Idaho Part of o back home, but after Mom’s last words, I knew that would never happen I had to make this work

After fifteenheavy and I needed to find a bathrooet one by the entire ti to think there was no town and the bus driver had just decided to drop me in the middle of nowhere

A coupleand it looked like there was a break in the never-ending wall of forest My steps got a little faster and then I saw the sign

Wander Inn Motel

I snorted at the pun, but was also relieved to find it actually existed I’d begun to wonder if Dad had just dropped off the face of the planet, but no, he’d just found the furthest place from Mom and his old boss as humanly possible

I turned on to the gravel drive, and then stopped and stared When Dad had told me about the place, he’d described it as old school, retro even Staring at it now, I could definitely state that old school was a generous term for what amounted to a pay per hour dump It was one of those old types where you drove up and parked right at the door of your room Two levels with a staircase, no elevators here, and while it could have been nice, now it just looked like a hangout for drug dealers and pimps I scanned the doors to see if any of the for a John to stroll by

I steeled myself and headed for room 119, the room Dad said he’d rented for the duration Duration of what, I still had no idea Midlife crisis? Licking his wounds? Finding himself? Really, no clue here I just couldn’t abandon him to do it alone Mom was the master of that

I knocked a little harder than I intended, not realizing the door was so before Dad threw it open, and I wanted to ask if he’d even bothered to check and

“Bunny!” I winced at the fa as he engulfed s Even as quick as he’d been to e ht Mom would convince me otherwise He kne she was, as well as I did