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Julian pulled the phone away from her ear slightly, keeping it from sticking to her sweating temples. Her hand shook, but she tried her best not to lose her grip on the phone. Not even a full ring in, and she almost did when the man on the other end answered, “Jules?”

“Uh, yeah…”

“It’s me. Gerard.”

“…Dad?” Julian asked quietly, pressing the phone back to her ear, as if to climb through and cling to him instead of his words.

“Yeah…” was his quiet reply. She almost started crying on the spot, but he interrupted her near breakdown, “Jules, where are you. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I’m great. I’m awesome. I can’t say where I am-”

“Going incognito, eh? I gotcha. Where are you going, then,” He sounded desperate, as if he was going to climb in his car and come find her if she told him. Julian knew she couldn't tell him, and tried to dodge the question.

“Incognito, remember?” Julian bit her lip, immediately regretting her decision to bite at him. She could almost feel his frown through the phone.

“Don’t get smart on me now, Julian. We just started talking.”

“Sorry, uh… Dad? I’m going to you.”

“To me, huh… Look, I’m on your side, Jules. Do you need money? Help?”

“No, we’re fine. I’ll be home soon,” she felt so casual about this whole deal. Like she was just across town at a friend's house, and wasn't hundreds of miles away.

“Home? Yeah… This is your home. Be careful, Jules. Don’t die or anything. I just found you again, I don’t want our first meeting to be in a morgue. Your mother probably wouldn’t let me see you there, anyway. Marian would make up some excuse about drugs. She says I put you up to this whole running away deal.”

“Yeah, you can still get addicted when you’re dead, remember?” Julian ran a hand through her hair, unsure of how to go about answering him and his denial of putting her up to running away. Why would he give his address, knowing she couldn’t actually send the letters? Maybe it was just harmless, and she was reading into it, but he still gave her the final piece that she needed, “You did kind of. Giving me your address and all.”

“I expected a letter, not a daughter,” there was some shuffling in the background, and Gerard pulled the phone away to talk to someone. The small voice that answered was unmistakably her half-sister’s, and it made her heart clench uncomfortably in her chest. Gerard came back to the phone, explaining that Bandit wanted to watch Star Wars when he was done. Julian laughed, and shook her head.

“That settled it, she’s my sister. Are you disappointed? That you got something different than the letter?”

“No. Never-ever. I would never be disappointed with you, Jules. I’m so happy right now, I’m going to cry, can you believe that shit? Lindsey is sitting here shaking her head.”

“I don’t really believe that, no,” Julian could see Leigh shifting uncomfortably to her right, and knew she had to cut the call off soon, so they could get a move on.

“I’ll show you when you get here, kid.”

“I’ll cry, too. We have to go now, though. They showed a missing persons report about us on television, and we want to get out of here before the streets start getting busy.”

“Gotcha. Jules, I-”

“I love you, Dad,” Julian sputtered out quickly, and he let out a small laugh, and she could tell he was coursing a hand through his hair.

“I love you too, Jules.”

***

After boarding a train so a town called Provo, they began to trudge along the highway out of town. Leigh assured her that following this highway would bring them to Las Vegas. After that it would be fairly easy to get to Los Angeles, and then their final destination. Alternating turns on holding their thumbs out at the road, they waited for someone to pick them up.

A flashy red sports car pulled up next to them, and gave the two girls a smile that made them feel uncomfortable. Leigh leaned over to talk to him, and his smile turned sleazy as they spoke quietly. Leigh shifted uncomfortably before turning to grab her bag, “Get in the car, Julian.”

“How are we paying him-”

“Get in the CAR, Julian,” she urged, and Julian complied quickly. As they started down the road, she watched as Leigh took a deep breath and leaned over to the man’s lap. Julian almost threw up on the spot, but she whipped her head to the side and did her best not to listen to the grunts and sobs coming from the front of the car.

As he said, he brought them to St George and left them inside the city limits without a word. Julian grabbed Leigh’s hand in a vice grip, and dragged the girl to the nearest motel for the night. When they entered their room, Leigh went right to the bathroom and cranked the shower on. Julian knew she was crying, but she obviously wanted to be alone.

Julian curled up on the bed, and began to cry as well. When Leigh came out of the bathroom, steam rolling out and her skin scrubbed raw, the two girls hugged each other on the bed and tried to quell each others’ hysterics.

“I’m sorry, Leigh. I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry,” Julian sobbed into her friends shoulder. Leigh only mutely nodded her head and looked up at the ceiling, her vision clouded with tears.

“He smelled awful, Julian. I don’t think he knew what a shower was,” Julian gave a half-laugh, half-cry, and clutched her friend tighter.

“I wish we hadn’t done this.”

“No you don’t, and I don’t either. If we didn’t, you never would have known your father. When you talked to him this morning, that was the happiest I’d ever been, and I know it was the same for you. I don’t want you to regret this, ever,” Leigh gave a wry smile and smoothed a hand over Julian’s hair, “I’m the one who should be hysterical, but you’re more affected than me.”

“You’re hiding it, Leigh. I know you. You let all of it out in the bathroom.”

“Shh, let me feel like the strong one, for once.”

“You are the strong one.”