Signs Point to Yes (21 page)

“I'm starving,” Margo announced. “We should stop for dinner soon. And then we can switch, and I'll drive for a while. You need a break.”

“No way, Margo. We can't stop again already. We need to make up time from rush hour,” Jane said. “At this rate, we'll never get there. And I'm not sure I'm tired enough to put my life in your hands.”

“But I'm so hungry,” Margo whined.

“Eat more beef jerky. We'll stop when we get closer,” Jane said. “Or when one of us has to pee.”

“You're mean.”

“I have to pee!” Ravi yelled.

Jane glanced at him in the rearview mirror. “Since when are you on Margo's side?”

“I'm not on anyone's side. It's mostly about not being on your side. I saw an opening, so I took it.”

Jane eventually let them stop for dinner at McDonald's, and they took a few minutes to discuss their next move.

“According to the GPS, we're not going to get there until three in the morning,” Jane said.

“There's no point showing up in the middle of the night,” Margo said. “It's not like this guy is holding Teo hostage.”

“Do we really know that, though?” Ravi asked. “I bet you didn't even do a background check on him. You sent Teo off to his doom all by himself. How dare you, madam!”

“Are you done now?” Jane asked Ravi.

“Yeah, fine.”

She turned back to Margo. “Basically, what you're saying is you think we should stop for the night?” Jane asked.

“Yes,” Margo said.

“How are we going to rent a hotel room? Don't you need to be, like, twenty-one?” Ravi asked.

“You only need to be eighteen most places. Although they'll think we're trying to have a hotel party, so you guys are going to have to let me go in by myself.”

“You're going to make me sit in the car with Jane the Pain all by myself?”

Jane and Margo glared at Ravi.

“Anyway, I know I can rent a room.”

“Won't they think it's weird that you're alone? Like, some young girl in the middle of the night renting a hotel room?”

Margo shrugged. “I'll come up with an excuse just in case and drop it in conversationally if I have to.”

“The first place we pass with outside hallways, we'll try,” Jane said. “That way you can say you're traveling for business by yourself, rather than try to get anyone to believe that Ravi and I are your children.”

“Jane is so obviously adopted,” Ravi said.

After they finished eating, they got back out to the car.

“I'll drive,” Margo said, and Jane, tired of driving, reluctantly tossed her the keys.

“Shotgun!” Ravi said.

“There's no way I'm sitting in the backseat of my own car.”

“Children, children,” Margo said, holding up her hands. “Please stop arguing or, so help me, I will turn this car around.”

Jane slid into the passenger seat before Ravi even knew what hit him, and they set off.

“So, Ravi, I've been dying to ask: Why do you hate my sister so vehemently?”

“What a great question, Margo. Thank you for asking. No one ever asks.”

Margo smiled at the praise.

“Allow me to set the stage for you. Jane and I were in seventh grade. We very rarely ever have classes together, due to my superior intellect, but we ended up in the same science class that year. And one day when our teacher assigned a project, both of our lab partners were absent. So I got stuck with her.”

Jane rolled her eyes so many times in a row she started to feel carsick. “How about you drop the dramatics and get to your point?”

Ravi poked his head between the front seats.

“We got a B on our diorama.”

“Oh, yeah,” Jane said, smiling. “We did. I remember that. It was a diorama of the Amazonian ecosystem.”

“We got a B,” Ravi repeated.

“I know. It was great.”

Ravi blinked at her, stunned. “It was the first B I ever got.”

“What?” Margo asked, turning to look at him and jerking the steering wheel.

“Margo! Eyes on the road! You promised,” Jane said.

“Fine, fine,” Margo said. “That's a tough cherry to pop, though, Ravi. I totally understand. I remember my first B. The horror, the long-lasting sting of mediocrity.”

“I forgot I was in the car with geniuses,” Jane said. “I live a B lifestyle. More like a C lifestyle, if I'm being honest with myself. They're not actually all that scarring.”

But Margo and Ravi weren't listening. Instead, they were bonding over their very rare bad grades.

“I got a D on a paper in my logic class in freshmen year. Can you believe that?”

“I can't,” Ravi said. “I'm not sure I could deal.”

“The professor let me write another one and averaged the grades. Even then it was only a B minus.”

Ravi was shaking his head, and Jane was doing her best not to scream.

“Wait a second! Are you the person who wrote ‘Jane Connelly is a B' on my locker in eighth grade?”

“Yes. I hadn't gotten past the sting.”

Margo was laughing.

“Don't laugh,” Jane said to her. “It was traumatizing. I thought someone was making fun of my boobs or calling me a bitch but the marker ran out of ink.”

“Looking back, it's funny,” Ravi said.

“You are the worst,” Jane said.

Around the Illinois border, Margo pulled the car into the large parking lot of a motel and parked around the corner from the front-desk area. She looked less than confident as she went in, but she was skipping by the time she came out.

“It worked! I told the lady at the desk I was stuck in traffic all day while driving home from dropping my boyfriend off at college, and I just needed somewhere to crash. And she bought it. Lying makes me feel alive!” Margo said.

Jane laughed as she pulled her bag out of the trunk.

“The only thing she said is that checkout is at noon.”

“I can imagine how ridiculous you were when you lied to that woman.”

“No way! I was amazing. I was like a villain in a movie. I was freaking Keyser S
ö
ze.”

“I don't know who that is,” Jane said.

“You've never seen
The Usual Suspects
?” Ravi asked as they walked across the parking lot toward their room on the first floor.

“I have not,” Jane said.

“What is this world coming to?” Ravi asked the night sky, shaking his head.

Margo unlocked the motel room door. “Welcome home, children,” she said, swinging it open.

“There's only one bed,” Ravi said. “Have you lured me here to take advantage of me? Is that what this is all about? Has this all been a farce? Where is Teo, really?”

“Yes, Ravi. Your self-proclaimed archnemesis and I have lured you to the Illinois border to ravish you. You asshole.”

“You're going to ravage my asshole?” Ravi asked, putting his hands on his butt.

“You're a ridiculous human being,” Jane said.

“I guess the lady at the desk figured I'd only need a king-size bed, since I'm only one person. We'll have to share. It's a huge freaking bed,” Margo said.

Jane pulled the bedspread off and threw it onto one of the armchairs. “I hate thinking about all the other people who have slept here.”

“You and
Dateline
,” Margo mumbled.

“There's no way I'm sharing a bed with you two,” Ravi said. “You'll both have to sleep on the floor.”

“Oh, come on, Ravi. It'll be fun. I thought we were bonding,” Margo said.

Jane lay down on the bed and rolled over six times before she got anywhere near the opposite edge. “Yeah, I don't mind sharing with you.”

“I'll even sleep in the middle,” Margo said. “Then you won't have to go anywhere near Jane's cooties.”

“And what about your cooties?” Ravi asked, but there was something flirtatious in his delivery.

“I do not have cooties!” Margo said, hitting Ravi in the face with a pillow.

“Oh, I thought pillow fights only happened in movies,” Ravi said, picking one up and smacking Margo lightly in the shoulder.

“See?” Margo said, settling down next to Jane. “This is going to be totally fun.”

“Well, I think this has been worked out,” Jane said, leaning back on the pillows and putting her hands behind her head. “Now let's see what's on basic cable this evening in Indiana.”

“Excellent idea,” Margo said.

“Fine,” Ravi said, flopping down next to them. “This is a decent bed. Firm but not too firm. No springs in my back.”

“I like it when you're pleasant,” Margo said, punching his shoulder playfully.

“I can be pleasant. If I must.”

 

Chapter 24

Sleeping late was not an option the next morning. As soon as one person woke up, everyone woke up.

“Well, that was the weirdest night of my life,” Ravi said.

“What time is it?” Jane asked, rolling over and hugging her pillow.

“Like, seven,” Margo said. “Better known as ‘time to find Teo.'”

Jane jumped up at that and started getting ready.

“And breakfast. I think we should eat breakfast before Teo,” Ravi said.

“But—” Jane started.

“Oh, come on, you said it yourself. It's not like he's being tortured. There's no reason we shouldn't have some waffles. Some bacon. Some eggs.” Ravi got a far-off look in his eyes. “I just really like breakfast.”

They got ready to go, and Ravi and Jane waited in the car while Margo checked out of the motel.

“I can't help feeling like he's going to be mad at me for telling you guys everything,” Jane said, thinking aloud.

“I knew about the dad search.”

“Yeah, but I told you a lot of stuff. Hopefully, he'll listen to reason.”

“Teo normally … Wait! Why am I comforting you? Why does that keep happening?” He took a deep breath and turned back into normal Ravi. “I don't think you'll be able to talk your way out of this one.”

Jane chewed on her lip, trying to ignore Ravi, but it was hard when the image of pissed-off Teo rose in her mind. He was so mad at her for getting involved in his dad search; what if he got just as mad that she had dragged Ravi and Margo into this?

“I know him very well,” Ravi continued. “He'll be totally pissed.”

“I'll just present the facts. Margo had to come because she had the money, and you had to come because you're annoying and threatened to blackmail us. I think it makes perfect sense.”

Margo got into the car a moment later, and they set off for a quick breakfast and then on to Champaign.

“Are you okay?” Margo asked, trying to decipher the look on Jane's face.

“She just realized that Teo is going to hate her after he finds out she betrayed his trust,” Ravi explained.

“Aw, don't worry, Janie. You'll make him understand.”

The closer they got, the less sure Jane was that Teo wouldn't be angry, but she had bigger things to deal with.

“All right, you guys stay in the car,” Jane said as she drove onto campus and looked for a parking spot. “I think it'll be less weird if I go find Mateo alone.”

“What are you going to tell him?” Margo asked.

“That I'm Teo's friend and I want to surprise him.” Jane found a spot and parked.

“Good luck,” Margo said.

Jane walked quickly across the campus, the skies growing darker and a storm threatening as she searched for the building she knew Mateo Rodriguez would be in, preparing to teach one of his last literature classes of the summer. She had a moment of panic, thinking there was a good chance he had canceled his final class.

Her panic disappeared when Jane found the classroom and saw the professor just about to walk in.

“Are you Mateo Rodriguez?” she asked, walking toward him.

“I am. What can I do for you?”

Jane immediately liked the way his eyes crinkled when he smiled. “Well, I'm Teo Garcia's, um…”

“Are you his girlfriend?” Mateo asked.

Jane was about to correct him but decided against it. “Did he say I was?” she asked.

“Well, I don't know who you are, so maybe?”

“Oh, I'm Jane. Jane Connelly.”

“Nice to meet you.”

Jane nodded.

“And for the record, he has spoken highly of you for the past two days.”

Jane practically glowed. “Do you know where he is?”

“At my house.”

“Do you mind telling me where you live? I feel weird asking, but I need to see him, and I drove all the way here. I'd be willing to wait until after class if that would make you feel more comfortable.” Jane's babbling trailed off as Mateo scribbled his address on a scrap of paper.

“Thank you,” she said.

“Are you going to try to talk some sense into him?”

“That's what I'm hoping,” Jane said.

“Is Connie with you?”

Jane shook her head.

“Does Connie know where he is?”

“I don't think so.”

“Oh God.” He glanced into the classroom and then back at Jane. “Mostly today is just for handing in papers. I'll be there as soon as I can.”

She nearly ran the whole way back to the car, which was easier said than done in a sundress and the flattest flip-flops ever made. Thunder was rolling overhead, not helping matters in the least, but she tried her best to ignore it.

She typed Mateo Rodriguez's address into the GPS, and the trio was on the way to his condo just as the skies opened up.

Once they got into the neighborhood, the condo development was easy enough to find, even in a downpour. It was the individual condo that was an issue. It was in one of those impossible-to-navigate complexes that even confused the GPS.

“Turn right onto Birdsong Terrace,” the GPS voice said.