CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
acquiescence
When Jacinta opens the door, I’m taken aback by the change in her appearance. Her long, black ponytail is gone, her head shaved within an inch of her scalp and standing straight on end. It’s no longer the deep ebony but more salted than just a few weeks ago. Pronounced wrinkles are like asterisks at the corners of her eyes. Her usual warm glow is muted, as if someone has turned down her dimmer switch.
I guess running for one’s life ages a person.
She jumps the two rickety steps and opens her arms, hugging me tightly before moving on to Rupert. She stretches to pat his wan cheek with her remaining hand. Jacinta looks like an old woman today, whereas the day she was in my cabin making huevos rancheros, just six weeks ago, she could’ve wrestled a T. rex witho
