Free Until the End of the World (Book 3): All the Stars in the Sky by Sarah Lyons Fleming

too.”
    “That I was a jerk?”
    “No, that I was.” I nod when he shakes his head. “I had my moments, Petey. Anyway, maybe we’d keep going now, but who would talk me down off the ledge?”
    “Nel?”
    “Are you kidding? Nelly would shove me off the ledge. Nope, it’s your job, whether you want it or not. The pay sucks, but the benefits are immense. Probably more like immensely annoying, but too bad.”
    “I’ll take it,” he says, and puts out a hand to shake on the deal.
    “You’re hired. I’m always here if you want to talk.” I squeeze his arm and start out of the room.
    “Cassandra,” he says. “Thanks. For saying all that.”
    I’m gratified to see he has a bit more spark in his eyes. “I meant every word.”

CHAPTER 14
    The next houses are the same in terms of food. I’ve found a dress for Bits, who may have forsaken Barbies for superheroes but still loves to be fancy, along with some more appropriate attire. I have clean underwear and wool socks. And Penny now has clothes she fits in, with room to grow.
    “I can breathe. I swear the heartburn is better already.” Penny twirls in her new maternity jeans and blousy shirt. She squeals when Peter hands her the jar of antacids. “Did I ever tell you I love you?” She kisses Peter on the lips and crunches on a few.
    “Hey!” James says. “All I had to do was get you Rolaids and a shirt?”
    Penny gives James an even bigger kiss and takes a book from the cabinet above the couch. After two ungraceful attempts to get into the cabover bed, I give her butt a push and climb up after. Jamie and Shawn are asleep in the bedroom. I assume they’re sleeping, since the RV isn’t a rockin ’. A person or animal covers every inch of floor or seating, except for Nelly and Adam, who keep watch from the roof. I’m trying not to worry that it’s been two hours since the others left. There are five gas stations nearby. They might have had to visit a couple before they found fuel.
    Ashley strokes her ponytail while she reads a book in the corner. I know her mind must be moving a mile a minute, but she’s wearing that teenage nothing-can-touch-me veneer. The same goes for Kyle, who stares out the window from the sofa with Nicki in his lap. I had a personal mission to make him laugh his ass off one day, but the chances of that have gotten slimmer now that there’s even less to laugh about.
    Bits and Hank have left a sheet of scrap paper up here. I fold it carefully and launch my paper airplane at Kyle, then snort when it hits him in the temple and drop my head.
    “Where’d it come from, Daddy?” Nicki asks.
    I hear Kyle mumble, but other than quiet voices and the rustle of Bits's and Hank’s papers, it’s silent. “Cassie,” Kyle says. I cringe at his commanding voice; he can’t have that little of a sense of humor.
    I raise my head and screech when five airplanes come for me, three wielded by Bits, Hank and Ash. I make a decent airplane, but these are sleek and fast enough that I’m going to have a divot in my forehead for the rest of my life. I grab one and admire it, then look down to where Kyle stands with Nicki wearing a broad smile.
    “You chose the wrong guy for a paper airplane war,” he says.
    “These are some fine planes,” I say. “But you’ve won the battle, not the war.”
    “You think you’re going to win with these tired old planes?” Kyle holds up my plane and points to where the tip has bent on impact.
    I set his planes in front of me and prop myself on my elbows. “Lesson one in the art of war: Use your enemy’s own weapons against them.”
    I launch them at him one by one until I hear a low chuckle from where he’s folded over Nicki. He straightens and shakes his head. “You’re crazy.”
    It wasn’t quite laughing his ass off, but I’m getting somewhere. “Just wait. It’s gonna get wild up in here.”
    There’s a scraping from the roof and Nelly’s voice comes through a skylight. “Zeke and Margaret are