Holly peered through the rearview mirror and said, “Do you think Misty will regret this?”

“Nah,” said Summer. “Her story isn’t finished. I think she is going to surprise us. You’ll see.”

Holly and I exchanged glances.

“Why was she so willing to hand over the camper to us? Does she know we’re all here to help Katie?” said Holly.

“Yes. Misty doesn’t have anything against Katie, as it turns out. But she’d like not to think of her every time she looks out her window.”

I was about to ask Summer what Misty said about Tom, but Holly interrupted me.

“Thanks so much for this, Summer. Where can we drop you?”

“Oh, I don’t have anywhere to be.”

“We’re driving back to Wisconsin.”

“I’ve never been there. This is exciting.” Sun lit up the cab of the RV and landed squarely on Summer’s face, filled with expectation, and I noted a fraying around her carefully curated edges. Her blonde hair stopped at her crown, showing a half inch of gray I hadn’t noticed before. A line of makeup at her chin, a dark vein on the back of her hand showed through her paper-thin skin. I held my breath. I wanted her to stay with us.

Holly’s tone had turned lawyerly, a tone I knew well and hated when she used it on me. “Summer, we appreciate your help. But this is going to be a big trip. No nonsense. We gotta go.”

This was exactly the kind of conflict-filled conversation that I avoided. I would come to parent meetings late and leave early just to miss all the sideline bitching that happened there. In restaurants when the waiter asked how the meal was, I gave a cheerful thumbs-up and then spat my food into a napkin.

Summer dug around in her Mary Poppins bag and extracted a file folder. “Misty gave me the registration and proof of insurance. I also have a handwritten note from her that says she has lent the vehicle to me, Summer Silva, to return on the completion of our journey.” As quickly as she pulled the documents out, she shoved them back in. “You’re stuck with me.”

Holly made a protest noise in her throat, and I enjoyed seeing her speechless.

Summer slid a sturdy plastic storage container from behind my seat and parked her tiny butt on it. To me, she said, “Does she smoke weed? She should. She would benefit.”

I stifled a laugh.

“Or CBD oil on your stress points.” She pulled out a brown bottle with a rubber dropper top and said, “I have medical grade CBD oil right here. Hand me your wrist.”

“I’m not giving you my wrist.” Holly sucked the corner of her bottom lip. “Why would you even want to go with us? We have to drive thousands of miles to the Midwest. We’ll be sleeping in this crap bus. You’re Summer Silva. Don’t you have something better to do?”

Summer put her head back and squeezed a drop of the alleged CBD oil on her tongue and said, “No, I don’t.” She slipped into what I can only assume was LA lingo. “I’ve got a few projects in the works, but funding got held up with talk of the screenwriters’ strike. My agent says there is a reality TV show looking for a host, and there’s a sitcom a director likes me for, but it hasn’t been green-lighted yet. So”—she put her hands together as if she were praying and dropped her head to her fingertips—“I’m at your service.”

“No offense, Summer, but we don’t need your services.”

To her credit, Summer snapped back, “You don’t know what you need, no offense.”

“Shots fired,” I said. I couldn’t help myself; I had the feeling Summer was tossing me a lifeline.

Holly said, “You are not helping, Sammie.”

“Look, you two,” Summer said. “Consider me a benign stowaway rather than an interloper. I’m working on a memoir, and a road trip will help me clear my head. Plus, this one”—she gestured to me—“needs to meet with my shaman, and she can’t get in without me. He owes me a favor too.” I was about to protest, but Holly beat me to it.

“Too?” Holly had pulled over, and the bus idled at the curb. She looked at me. “Did you put her up to this so you weren’t stuck in the car with me for days?”

“No! I’m telling you I slept the whole flight.”

“Sam’s a wreck. Leave her out of this.”

“Hey!” I was a smidgen offended by that. I was on Team Summer, after all. Admittedly I wasn’t thrilled about being alone with Holly, but I was holding up pretty well. I didn’t feel too tired. I was game to be riding in a vehicle obtained under questionable circumstances, and we were about to pick up Peanut. I was on point.

“You guys,” Summer said, “I can be a goby fish to your snapping shrimp.”

“What are you talking about?” Holly had her phone out, and the glasses she never wore except for reading were perched on the end of her nose. She appeared to be looking for directions to the animal shelter.

“The goby fish helps the nearly blind snapping shrimp by alerting the shrimp to danger while they build burrows for them both to sleep.”

Summer was kind of hilarious and definitely could read people. I thought about her assessment of me. A wreck. Instead of outrage I felt a pang of fondness for the skinny woman who didn’t have it quite as together as it had first seemed.

“Let’s go,” I said. “It’s almost five. We have to get to the shelter before it closes.” My phone vibrated again, and I read the text.

BDREW: What’s happening over there?

I thought of that old country-western song that was on jukeboxes in college. The one where the question is asked. Love? Friendship? Check the box yes or no. A wash of Of course not, Samantha!

ME: We just stole the camper and we either have a stowaway or we’ve been kidnapped. Unsure which.

BDREW: Do you need the police?

ME: God NO.

BDREW: All in hand then?

ME: All in hand. How’s Katie?

The three dots rolled and I waited as the camper lurched forward. I anticipated getting a long, thorough assessment of how my friend was faring without us by her side.

The dots appeared again and words followed.

BDREW: She’s good.

I thought about pressing him for more details, but this didn’t feel like the time. I wanted to get to the shelter, figure out what was next, and to be honest, I was starting to feel fatigue drip like thick honey filling the ventricles of my brain.

ME: Can you write me a prescription for my sleep medication?

BDREW: No.

ME: Come on. What’s some amphetamines between friends?

BDREW: No. I’m deleting this request.

She’s good, Drew had said. Katie was good. Not much information but enough for now. I should have asked for more, but I wasn’t sure I could handle more stress. If the information was not positive, I worried I wouldn’t be awake to get Peanut.

I decided to text Katie; I knew she’d be waiting to hear from me.

ME: Hi Honey. On the way to get Peanut. Everything is good here.

KATIE: Hi! I was getting worried but then I remembered the time change.

ME: How are you?

KATIE: I feel good. Drew stopped in.

ME: I asked him to. OK?

KATIE: Sure. ?

KATIE: He’s kind of chatty honestly.

If I had been a dog, my ears would have perked up with anticipation—He talks about you—or cautiousness—I think he likes me.

ME: What about?

The dots scrolled, and I felt my mouth go dry.

KATIE: Nothing. I’m kind of tired. Holly okay?

I knew what she was asking. How was I doing with Holly?

ME: She’s great! Rushing off. Go to sleep. xo

KATIE: xo

I tuned back in to what was going on around me just in time to see Summer pluck the phone from Holly’s hand and say, “I’ll navigate.”

I would never, ever take Holly’s phone out of her hand, and I waited for the explosion. When none came, I thought about the Group Dynamics class I took in college where the professor had said, “However large or small a group is, the addition of one person will forever change interactions, and preexisting ground rules no longer apply.” Just like Katie had added a new dimension to our lives, I saw Summer was causing some shifting as well.

Katie was the ghost leader for this expedition. The three of us had our historic dynamics. Katie was the glue, I was the puppy, and Holly was our motor. With Katie’s physical absence but her illness hanging over our heads, she had become the motor, which left Holly, Summer, and me jockeying for position. Who was in charge? The tired girl, the mad girl, or the celebrity? It was a low-stakes Hunger Games in the camper.

Summer looked at the address of the animal shelter. “I know right where this is. Okay, Hol, we’re not far at all.”