Searching For- Your Daddy Ditched Me Again In- -

She laughed, a dry, cracked sound. It was the most honest conversation she’d had all year. The GPS wasn’t mocking her; it was just stating facts. She was always searching for him. Always recalculating her life around his exits.

Lena stared at the lie. She’d already seen his location share flicker on for thirty seconds by accident. He wasn’t in Rawlins. He was in a Holiday Inn two exits west of here, the one with the indoor pool Eli had been begging to visit.

Eli stirred. “Daddy here?”

When Eli woke up, she’d tell him they were going on a new adventure. Just the two of them.

Then she turned off the GPS.

She was parked outside a dilapidated truck stop off I-80, the neon sign for “Pete’s 24-Hour Diner” buzzing a frantic, blue halo into the snowy dark. Her son, Eli, was asleep in the back seat, his small hand still clutching the toy tractor his father had mailed for his fifth birthday three months ago. The same father who was supposed to meet them here an hour ago.

For the first time in six years, she wasn't searching for anything. She was just sitting in the quiet, her son breathing softly behind her, the snow erasing every road behind her. Searching for- Your Daddy Ditched Me Again in-

Then the GPS rebooted with a soft chime.