Finally, she smiled. “I like it. It has character.” I laughed – that was a nice way to put it. “So what’s your name?”

“Margarita,” I told her. This time she didn’t walk away, but she did giggle.

“As in, like the drink?” Everyone asks. Every single time.

“Sí.”

“Do you speak Spanish or something? Beause you’ve done that twice now.”

“Uh, yeah. I’m from Mexico, so… yeah. We moved here when I-”

“Wait,” she cut me off. “We’re both running away from something, right? And we can’t very well leave it behind if we talk about it. So, I have one rule – we don’t talk about our pasts. Don’t ask about them, don’t mention them, nothing. Agreed?”

It really was a fresh start. “Agreed,” I said as I put the pump back in its cradle, ignoring the little part of me that was worried about what she had to hide. My phone buzzed before I could open the car door.

I froze.

Slowly, I pulled it out of my purse and looked at the notification – a text. From Isaac.

“Good morning, beautiful. You excited?” I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Don’t cry. Do not. Cry.

“Hey Margarita, you ready?” Mitta asked, leaning over to look out the driver’s window. I glanced back down at my phone.

“Yeah,” I said, shoving it down into my purse and trying to wipe the tear out of my eye without her noticing. “I’m ready.”

I climbed in the car and put my purse in the backseat so I wouldn’t hear my phone if it vibrated, then pulled out of the parking lot towards the highway I’d taken into town a few hours earlier. The rising sun was straight ahead and I pulled down my visor out of habit, not that it actually helped any; the sun was still too low in the sky.

“Cute dog,” Mitta said, looking over at the picture tucked to the visor. “Is he yours?”

“Uh, yeah. Pear.” I paused for a second, trying to think of something else to say. Small talk was not a forte of mine. “He’s a Chihuahua mix.” I pulled up to the last stoplight before the ramp onto the highway. “Which way are we going?” I asked.

“Umm…” Mitta leaned forward, looking down at the floor. “Here,” she said as she sat back up with a coin in her hand. I really needed to clean out my car. “Let’s flip a coin. You call it.” She tossed it up and flipped it onto the back of her hand, looking over at me.

“Heads for… left, I guess.”

“Okay. And it is…” she looked at it very dramatically. “Tails!” I couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Right we go,” I announced as I turned the wheel, and off we went. Away from Jamie’s 24 Hour Breakfast Parlor and the heavenly French toast, and towards… somewhere. Anywhere.

Everywhere.