P ROLOGUE
Ten Years Ago
THE LIGHTS OF THE CITY BECKONED, stirring a yearning deep within Vance’s 18-year-old spirit. His need for adventure, for more, pulled him ever closer to the glittering promise those lights offered. He navigated his fully-restored 1967 Camaro through the unfamiliar streets before finding a public parking lot along the riverfront.
Since all of his worldly belongings were crammed into his backseat and trunk, he checked twice to be sure his car was locked before wandering towards the excitement of Laclede’s Landing. A thrill shot through him. For so many years he’d longed for adventure, and now his adventure had begun. He wanted to drink it all in—to taste and smell and feel every last bit of it.
The Arch, a landmark so distinctly St. Louis, towered over the scene playing out in front of him. Lights reflected off the river as it chugged steadily on by. Vance walked along the cobblestone streets, stepping out of the way for a horse-drawn carriage. Drunken college students stumbled in and out of old brick buildings with neon signs. The few remaining tourists with families ushered their children back to minivans, yielding the streets to the party crowd. Vance took it all in, relishing, reveling in it, in his new home. And he would make it his home. Tomorrow, he’d find a job. Tomorrow, he’d find an apartment. Tonight, he was going to treat himself to dinner and a night in a real hotel.
When Allie Walker’s family had taken their trip to St. Louis to see the arch, they’d eaten at the Old Spaghetti Factory and toured the wax museum. So in honor of Allie, and as if to somehow amend for breaking her heart by leaving, he began his night where she would have wanted him to: with a dinner of spaghetti followed by a tour of kinda creepy people made of wax. He wasn’t old enough to get into any of the bars and didn’t want to spend his first night in the big city tangling with cops, so he mostly just ambled up and down the streets, soaking it all in.
As it got later, the party got wilder, and he became conspicuously aware of being on the outside looking in. He made his way back to his car so he could find a hotel. After a good night’s sleep, he’d start his job hunt first thing.
The further he got from the revelry, the darker the streets got. By the time he arrived at the lot where he’d left his car, his nerves were a jumble. It hadn’t seemed quite so dark or remote before. He got to the row where he expected to see his car only to find the space empty. He walked up a few rows then back down, but to no avail. He tried to fight the encroaching panic as he walked all the way up the lot and back down. Still no car.
He moved on to the next lot, thinking that maybe he’d just taken a wrong turn or remembered something wrong. He tried to play it cool when a group of frat brothers clamored past. He tried not to let on that he could taste the bile of fear in the back of his throat.
After an hour of searching, he had to admit what he’d known all along: His car was gone, along with all of his worldly possessions. He had nothing. He had nowhere to go and no way to get there. With that realization sitting like a rock in his stomach, Vance couldn’t hold it back any longer. He threw up right there in the parking lot.
C HAPTER O NE
Present Day
VANCE PARKED in the exact parking spot he’d chosen on his first visit to St. Louis, as if to defy fate. He stepped out of his truck and looked around, the harsh light of day and experience giving him a very different view of the town he’d once been so in awe of. He surveyed the crumbling parking lot, his mind’s eye seeing things as they were that fateful night so long ago. When he’d made his big plans back then, he hadn’t taken into account the fact that at 18 with no credit card he wouldn’t be able to find a decent room to rent. It might not have been so bad if his car hadn’t been stolen. He still missed that car.
Vance couldn’t help
Ten Years Ago
THE LIGHTS OF THE CITY BECKONED, stirring a yearning deep within Vance’s 18-year-old spirit. His need for adventure, for more, pulled him ever closer to the glittering promise those lights offered. He navigated his fully-restored 1967 Camaro through the unfamiliar streets before finding a public parking lot along the riverfront.
Since all of his worldly belongings were crammed into his backseat and trunk, he checked twice to be sure his car was locked before wandering towards the excitement of Laclede’s Landing. A thrill shot through him. For so many years he’d longed for adventure, and now his adventure had begun. He wanted to drink it all in—to taste and smell and feel every last bit of it.
The Arch, a landmark so distinctly St. Louis, towered over the scene playing out in front of him. Lights reflected off the river as it chugged steadily on by. Vance walked along the cobblestone streets, stepping out of the way for a horse-drawn carriage. Drunken college students stumbled in and out of old brick buildings with neon signs. The few remaining tourists with families ushered their children back to minivans, yielding the streets to the party crowd. Vance took it all in, relishing, reveling in it, in his new home. And he would make it his home. Tomorrow, he’d find a job. Tomorrow, he’d find an apartment. Tonight, he was going to treat himself to dinner and a night in a real hotel.
When Allie Walker’s family had taken their trip to St. Louis to see the arch, they’d eaten at the Old Spaghetti Factory and toured the wax museum. So in honor of Allie, and as if to somehow amend for breaking her heart by leaving, he began his night where she would have wanted him to: with a dinner of spaghetti followed by a tour of kinda creepy people made of wax. He wasn’t old enough to get into any of the bars and didn’t want to spend his first night in the big city tangling with cops, so he mostly just ambled up and down the streets, soaking it all in.
As it got later, the party got wilder, and he became conspicuously aware of being on the outside looking in. He made his way back to his car so he could find a hotel. After a good night’s sleep, he’d start his job hunt first thing.
The further he got from the revelry, the darker the streets got. By the time he arrived at the lot where he’d left his car, his nerves were a jumble. It hadn’t seemed quite so dark or remote before. He got to the row where he expected to see his car only to find the space empty. He walked up a few rows then back down, but to no avail. He tried to fight the encroaching panic as he walked all the way up the lot and back down. Still no car.
He moved on to the next lot, thinking that maybe he’d just taken a wrong turn or remembered something wrong. He tried to play it cool when a group of frat brothers clamored past. He tried not to let on that he could taste the bile of fear in the back of his throat.
After an hour of searching, he had to admit what he’d known all along: His car was gone, along with all of his worldly possessions. He had nothing. He had nowhere to go and no way to get there. With that realization sitting like a rock in his stomach, Vance couldn’t hold it back any longer. He threw up right there in the parking lot.
C HAPTER O NE
Present Day
VANCE PARKED in the exact parking spot he’d chosen on his first visit to St. Louis, as if to defy fate. He stepped out of his truck and looked around, the harsh light of day and experience giving him a very different view of the town he’d once been so in awe of. He surveyed the crumbling parking lot, his mind’s eye seeing things as they were that fateful night so long ago. When he’d made his big plans back then, he hadn’t taken into account the fact that at 18 with no credit card he wouldn’t be able to find a decent room to rent. It might not have been so bad if his car hadn’t been stolen. He still missed that car.
Vance couldn’t help
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