Page 89 of River Wild

Carrie

I’ve got a car!

It’s a fifteen-year-old Chevy Impala with too many miles on the odometer to count, but it’s mine, and I got a great deal on it. It was selling for fifteen hundred bucks, but Ivan, who owns the local dealership, has been a regular at the diner since Sadie opened it, and he gave it to me for twelve hundred bucks. I’m not super flush with funds, but I’ve been saving up all my tips, and I’ve been picking up extra hours at the diner these past few months to pay for it, so no more walking for me. Yay!

I just picked the car up after my breakfast shift at the diner, and I was itching to take it out for a drive. So, I decided to take a drive out to Thistleberry Farm, which is where I’m heading now, to buy some of the fresh produce they sell. Healthy food for the baby, who is growing nicely.

I had my latest checkup and the twenty-week ultrasound yesterday.

I decided not to find out the gender at the ultrasound. I want the surprise at the birth. So, I’ve taken to calling the baby Olive since that conversation I had with River about the fruit—

And nope, not going there. River is a no-go topic for me nowadays.

I haven’t seen him since that night. Not a glimpse. Not that I’ve been actively looking for him because I haven’t been.

I refuse to even look in the direction of his house.

And I’m totally fine about it all now.

I was sad at first, but then I figured, I couldn’t lose something that I never had, right? And, apparently, I never had his friendship.

Okay, so I might still be a little mad. But it’s fine.

He’s nothing to do with anything.

So, yeah, Olive is now the length of a small banana and coming along nicely. I have a decent-sized bump now, so I’m really showing, and I’ve had to invest in some maternity clothes to keep up with my ever-growing waistline. Thankfully, my diner uniform includes black pants, which I got a couple of maternity ones that have the stretchy waistband—so sexy. And my work shirt is provided by Sadie. She’s ordered me in another shirt, a couple of sizes up, as the last one she got me, which I’m wearing now, is tight across my belly already.

I can’t believe I’m twenty weeks, and it’s March 1 already. Time is flying by. Christmas seems like an age ago.

I spent Christmas Day with Sadie and Buddy. Sadie cooked a turkey, and I helped with the rest. It was fun and happy. My first Christmas in a long time where I felt safe.

New Year’s Eve I spent with Buddy. Sadie and Guy went out to some bars. They’d tried to talk me into going, but bars aren’t really my thing. They’d said it was my last New Year before the baby came, my last New Year of freedom. But what they don’t realize is, I have more freedom now than I ever have. And, honestly, I’d rather be home with Buddy.

I turn on the radio. My car fills with the sound of “River” by Leon Bridges.

Nope. Just nope.

I switch the radio off and travel the rest of the way in silence.

I arrive at Thistleberry Farm fifteen minutes later.

I park my car in one of the parking spots, grab my purse off the passenger seat, and head on into the store.

And I stop dead in my tracks.

River is standing behind the counter.

My heart does this weird shimmy in my chest at the sight of him.

I’m staring at him.

He’s staring back at me. His face is a mask of surprise.

I think mine mirrors his.

I need to look away.

Turning away, I grab a basket and start moving through the store with no real direction other than to get as far away from him as possible.