“Seven.”
“Where?” She looked around.
“Nowhere.” Even half a year later, October 2018 came back too easily. “I just wanted you to stop talking. Let’s get out of here.”
“Okay.” Carmen held me close all the way back to the van. “Should we head to the parkway? There was one there, right?”
“Yup. Sounds like a plan.”
“And then west…east…finally north?”
“Onward we go.”
I had to skip when Carmen did, and that made us both giggle.
“There it is. That smile’s real.” Carmen had mad skillz when it came to handling the big camera and her phone at the same time. Before I knew it, she’d snapped a photo of me. “Your real happy face rivals the ones we’ve been looking for when it comes to bright and cheerful. It’s going up on the WTWN IG page for sure.”
Within about forty-five more minutes, we’d pas
