I watched the snow-covered hills and my mind flashed back to a winter night, one of the last we'd had before my mother left him for good. She was at work and Dad was supposed to drive us to a Christmas program at church. He stopped at a bar instead. There we were, in dresses and tights—Adrian just six years old, and I was eight. He said he'd only be a few minutes and left us in the car. We waited for a while, shivering in the cold, but I knew he'd be in there all night so I took Adrian's hand and we walked home in the snow. It was miles, and Adrian cried all the way because her pretty shoes were getting wet and ruined.
Dad didn't come home until hours later, but when he did he slapped me across the face for disobeying him. When Adrian shrieked in protest he slapped her too.
When we were twenty miles away, Mrs. Debrock called Rick's cell phone. He told her why he was heading to Spokane, reiterating all the reasons he'd already given her in his message. He grunted and rolled his eyes at whatever her response was. After he'd slid the phone back into his pocket he said, "Grandmother thinks I'm undependable, impulsive, and unable to see things through to the end."
Tanner looked straight ahead at the road. "I'm sure she'll cool down by the time we get home, but if not, hey, more of an inheritance for me."
I turned so I could see into the back seat. "You're being dependable—dependable for Adrian. That's something that's worth seeing through to the end. Your grandmother will realize that one day."
Rick didn't answer for a moment. He just stared at me like he didn't know how to react to my compliment. Finally, he looked out the window and shrugged. "Maybe," he said.
After that, we spent a few minutes planning what we would do when we got to the airport. Rick would buy a ticket and go talk to Adrian alone. I agreed to this only because I didn't have the money for a ticket. If he couldn't convince Adrian not to get on the plane, then he'd call me, and I'd tell the airport authorities that she was running away from home. We saved that option for last, because we didn't want to get Adrian in trouble if we didn't have to.
When we pulled up to the airport parking garage, my stomach was churning. The clock in the car read. 12:10. Her plane would probably start boarding in twenty minutes. How long would it take us to get to the gate? As we got out of the car, Rick carried his boom box with him. "Why are you taking that?" Tanner asked, but Rick didn't answer and there wasn't time to discuss it. We jogged into the airport.
Tanner and I went and stood in the ticket line, which was a dozen people long. Rick walked to the counter and told the agent he needed to buy a ticket right then because it was an emergency. She cast him an unimpressed stare and told him he'd have to wait his turn.
He swore about this, and continued to swear all the way to the back of the line. Really, the boy needed to expand his vocabulary.
"Would you be quiet," I hissed to him, "I'll handle this." I turned to the man who stood in front of us, tapped him on the shoulder, and gave him a damsel-in-distress smile. "Excuse me, sir, but my little sister is trying to fly to Chicago when she shouldn't. We need to buy a ticket so we can go back to the gate and keep her from getting on the plane. Can we cut in front of you?"
He stepped aside immediately. "Sure thing, honey."
I repeated this plea all the way up through the line, and one by one the customers let us through until we reached the front of the line. After I'd thanked everyone profusely, I turned to Rick. "See," I whispered. "It pays to be polite."
"You mean it pays to be a leggy blonde," he whispered back. "They wouldn't have done that for me."
"Just think of it as a cheerleader in action," I said.
He shook his head and didn't reply.
We watched the agents, waiting for one to become available and my stomach resumed its churning. I took hold of Rick's arm to get his attention. "Tell Adrian I'm sorry we fought, and I should have told her about Tanner earlier, and I just want her to come home."
He kept his gaze fastened forward, ready to step away from me. "Okay."
"And tell her Mom will be miserable if she leaves."
"Okay."
"Tell her that she'll never be happy at Dad's and—"
"Chelsea." Rick put one hand on my shoulder to quiet me. His voice turned soothing. I'd never heard it that way before, and it reminded me of Tanner. "I can handle this. I'm going to bring Adrian back, okay?"
I gulped and nodded. "Okay."
The agent called Rick to the desk. While I watched him pull out his wallet, it hit me more forcefully what Rick was doing—what he he'd done already. "I can't believe he left the audition for Adrian," I said.
Tanner's voice was hard. "I can't believe she sabotaged your song for him."
"Now your grandmother won't help him."
"Now your school will suspend her."
"Yeah, it's like some Goth version of Romeo and Juliet, isn't it?"
He laughed but I could see the tenseness around his eyes. We were still apart, the two of us. The day hadn't changed that, and I wasn't sure why. Everything else had changed so quickly. I'd started out with Rick as my archenemy and now somehow we were on the same team.
"I guess Rick isn't so bad underneath all that grungy black clothing," I said.
He glanced at me to see whether I meant it. I must have looked sincere because he smiled cautiously. "Yeah, he has his good points."
"I probably could try harder to get along with him," I said.
"Good." Tanner looked at the airline counter not at me. I waited for him to say something else. He didn't.
"This is where you say, 'And Adrian isn't so bad either.''
The muscles around his jaw line twitched, and I realized that his anger was directed toward her and not me. He shook his head. "She made both you and Richard miss your auditions."
"She didn't make us; we chose to leave."
"She tried to get you suspended so you couldn't compete. How can you just forgive her for something like that?"
I didn't answer for a moment. I wasn't sure I had forgiven her; I hadn't consciously done it, anyway. I just knew that despite all the ways and all the times Adrian and I had hurt each other over the last couple years none of it had mattered when I thought about losing her. "She's my sister," I said.
Rick turned around and called to me, "Hey, Chelsea. The agent needs to see your driver's license."
I stepped up to him, already getting it out of my purse. "Why?"
"Because I'm buying you a ticket too. I think we have a better chance if we both talk to her." Before I'd thought about it, he took the license from my hand and gave it to the agent. "Don't worry," he said with a glance at my face. "I'm buying refundable tickets. You won't owe me anything."
While the agent looked at my license Rick added, "Unless we apply the fare to a different trip. Maybe we should fly to L.A. and hit the auditions there."
We didn't have time to discuss it because the next moment the agent handed us our tickets and we rushed off through the airport corridors toward the security checkpoint.
Rick, by the way, moved pretty fast for someone who's biggest mode of exercise so far had consisted of skulking around school. Tanner wasn't even out of breath as he ran and I mentally noted what good shape he was in. Lacrosse must do that for you. I struggled to keep up with them.