Jeannie slowed her car and stopped at the red light. During the day she hated driving. Roads too busy, drivers too crazy, but at night she didn't mind. Sometimes she enjoyed it. Across the intersection the lights from Bonanza Bob's glimmered, reminding her of old-fashioned riverboat casinos. She liked those old light bulbs. The LED ones never had the same shimmer to them. If she had more time, she'd go poke around inside the giant discount store, not that she ever bought anything from there. Instead, when the light turned green, she drove on. She knew why she was wanting to procrastinate and she wasn't going to let herself. Not this time. This time, she wasn't going to run away from anyone or anything. Jimmy made his choice for her when he'd left her that message on her phone. And failed to respond to the note she left. Too late, sonny boy.
It was five minutes to midnight and Steve was already pacing around beneath the giant Sahara sign, watching the camels light up one at a time. Then she remembered she hadn't told him what kind of car to look out for. He'd only seen her get in and out of taxi cabs.
She pulled to a stop and tapped the horn. He stared, sorta stunned, until she waved at him, then he let himself in on the passenger side. "Didn't know you drove," he said.
"Sometimes. I don't like to when there's a lot of traffic, but sometimes I don't have a choice. With the price of gas dropping, it's getting cheaper than cab fare anyway."
"Nice." He belted himself up and nodded around approvingly, like she was driving a brand new Mercedes instead of a beat-up old Volkswagen Golf.
Wanting to get the worst part over with as fast as she could she said, "Just to warn you, Jimmy's gonna be there, and he's probably gonna be a major asshole to you."
"I can take him," he said. "I'm used to dealing with assholes, believe me."
"Just let me do the talking." Both men were prone to acute cases of testosterone poisoning and the last thing she wanted was to get caught in the middle of it. Some girls liked to have men fighting over them. Not her. She always pictured silverback apes thudding their chests whenever she witnessed such a thing; how could anyone deny the theory of evolution when the link from monkey to man was so clear, she had no idea. Except maybe evolve wasn't the right word. Evolving implied improvement. "You promise?"
"Absolutely." He squeezed her knee and kept his hand on her thigh while she drove north. To calm her nerves, she turned on the radio and found a station playing Indie music. She liked that he was quiet while she drove. One thing she couldn't stand was a passenger who would yammer away while she tried to concentrate on the road. And think. It probably was a dumb idea to bring him out with her, but she didn't see how she had much of a choice. He was going to be one of the players. It made sense to try to make use of him, especially since he'd been the one to offer it. Better they see him now than at the game for the first time, now that she thought about it. That would have totally thrown them off.
Jimmy had made his choices. He'd had plenty––more than plenty––of chances to apologize for the things he'd said to her, to try to make it up to her and instead he hid out like a goddamned coward. And instead of getting properly mad at him for treating her that way, she'd felt sorry for him and had waited and waited for him to come around. No more. She was tired of running, tired of waiting and Steve was right here. She didn't need to do either any longer.
In her rear-view mirror the lights of the Stratosphere faded into the distance. Overhead, the stars grew bright. She turned onto the highway and a couple of miles later turned off onto a dirt road marked by a single wooden post with an orange tip. "It's pretty far out," she said, breaking their prolonged silence. No moon out, either. Without the moon or any streetlights, she hoped she'd still be able to see her way. "I'd say another forty minutes or so."
"That's cool," he said, twisting the strap of his seat belt in his fingers.
"Aw, don't be nervous." She squeezed his hand. Giggling, she said, "Ground's way too hard around here to try burying anyone in it."
"Thanks for the reassurance."
"I'm kidding, you know I'm just kidding."
He let out a sharp sigh.
"Looking back," she said, "it was dumb of me to run off like that the other day. I'm sorry. I let myself get spooked too easily sometimes. Worse than a horse seeing its shadow."
"If I had a brain in my head I'd let myself get spooked a lot more easily than I have lately." It sounded like he was trying to joke, but his voice kept cracking. "I've made some incredibly stoo-pid decisions lately."
If she let this moment pass, she'd regret it forever. The rest of them could wait. She pulled off the road, drove past a decrepit old Joshua tree, past a cluster of stray boulders, and stopped. With the engine cut off, nothing but silence. The starlight reflecting on the sand bathed them in a silvery glow. Without the moon, their surroundings were brighter than she'd ever imagined possible. She rolled down the window. A light breeze blew in along with the steady whisper of shifting, sifting sand.
"Sure is romantic out here," he said, almost choking on his words. He was gazing up at the night sky while she was looking at him. In the pale light, he was so beautiful he looked like an angel who'd just descended from the heavens.
"Look, the Milky Way," he said in a hushed, almost reverential tone. He leaned forward in his seat and craned his face up, tracing his finger along the faint backbone of the galaxy. "Wow. I've never seen that before, like a long narrow cloud and all of them are stars. Billions of them. I barely ever even see the big dipper out at night where I live. Makes me realize how infinitesimally small we really are. This is ... amazing."
She squinted up. She felt herself being drawn in among them, her everyday life dwindling away. All she was aware of were the stars high above and Steve sitting next to her. She undid her seat belt, leaned closer, pressed her mouth to his and began kissing him. Why bother showing up for that heist. She could just turn the car around and head west. Or stay right where they were, forever.