Free Dead Highways: Origins by Richard Brown Page B

magazine and put her in the glove box. She didn’t complain. She was used to doing whatever I told her.
    “I wonder what her name is,” Peaches said. “The hospital bracelet doesn’t say. It only has numbers on it.”
    “Maybe you should give her a name.”
    “I guess. It just doesn’t feel right, naming someone else’s baby, ya know.”
    “It’s the least we could do. Right now, we’re all she has.”
    “Then we’ll call her Olivia,” Peaches said. “What do you think?”
    “I think Olivia has a good appetite.”
    Peaches smiled, while baby Olivia ate like she’d never eaten before.

Chapter 17
     
    After Olivia finished off the bottle of formula, we left the parking lot of the Cancer Care Center and headed back toward the bookstore. First, we’d stop by Naima’s house and make sure she got back okay. I said nothing about it to Peaches, but a part of me was afraid we’d left Naima behind at the hospital. We had agreed to meet back in the waiting room in thirty minutes. But she didn’t have a watch, so I had told her to make an educated guess. What if she had a horrible sense of time? What if she had showed up after Peaches and I went back up to the sixth floor, and then went off looking for us? I felt guilty for not waiting longer, but at the same time, Olivia needed immediate attention. Naima was a grown woman, plenty capable of taking care of herself, right?
    Right?
    I wanted to think positively. I wished I’d had Tony Robbins there to cheer me on. But I feared the worst. I feared we wouldn’t see Aamod’s car in the driveway. I feared that instead of finding her parents awake she’d found them both asleep. What if that was the reason she never met back up with us? What if she was so stricken with grief she completely lost it, and in this vulnerable state of mind, we’d just left her there? What a couple of assholes we’d be.
    Negativity for the win!
    Since we didn’t have a car seat, Peaches held the baby tight against her chest. In no time, Olivia was fast asleep. I figured the motion of the car had done the trick—at least I’d hoped it was the motion of the car. Yeah, I know it’s dangerous having someone hold a baby in the front seat. But I wasn’t too worried about getting into an accident, being one of only a few cars still moving on the road, that and my top speed rarely broke twenty-five miles per hour. I was even less worried about getting a ticket, seeing as how I’d passed numerous police cars and none of the occupants were in any shape to write tickets. So far that might have been the best thing about this crappy new world.
    No.
    More.
    Bullshit.
    Laws.
    It might also turn out to be the worst thing.
    When we got to Naima’s house, I parked behind Aamod’s silver Toyota in the driveway and let out a big sigh of relief. She’d found them. Thank God. We weren’t assholes after all.
    “And here I’d expected the worst,” I said, glancing over at Peaches. But she wasn’t looking at me. She was looking down, watching Olivia as she slept.
    “She’s so adorable, isn’t she?”
    I nodded. “But what are we going to do with her?”
    “We’ll take care of her for as long as we can. She deserves as much life as she can get.” She now looked over at me. “Don’t you think?”
    “I do,” I replied. “Just not always rationally.” She smiled and turned her attention back to Olivia. “Well, why don’t we get the heck out of here.” I put the car in reverse and began to back out of the driveway.
    I was about ten seconds too slow.
    The front door opened, and Aamod stepped out. Stared at us. I stopped backing up and stared back. He had an even more intense look in his eyes than normal. He was wearing his work clothes with his name embroidered on the shirt. I’d never seen him wear anything else.
    “What’s this about?” Peaches asked.
    “He probably heard us pull up.”
    Aamod began to walk over. I shut off the car and got out.
    “Who are you and what are you doing