“Let me buy you a hotel room.”
“Oh, thanks but we would prefer to sleep outside.”
“Really? Come on, just let me buy you a hotel room up here in this next town.”
“We’ll be fine. Really. Thank you. You’ve already helped us so much by picking us up. We really weren’t expecting to get a ride after dark."
“I don't want anything from you. I just want to buy you a hotel room."
"Yeah," I pipe in, "thanks, but we like to sleep under the stars."
"Okay. Then here, let me at least give you this.” Clare lets the cash fall into her limp hands, not knowing what to make of it. She looks back at me over the seat.
“My daughter ran away last week,” he says to the road through the windshield. “Please," he says, "I insist.”
“Well,” Clare looks at her hands, “Okay," then looks at his profile, distant in front of the twilit mountains. "Yeah. Okay," she says again, "thank you.”
He slows down and turns onto Grand St. to let us out. “Be safe now girls.”