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Tossing shade with her epic side glare, Nova sets her phone on the wireless charging pad and shifts intoDriveas the navigation comes to life on the display. “Your flattery won’t get you behind Snowball’s wheel.”
“I’ll just have to try harder.”
I choke on my laugh as she mumbles “lovely” under her breath.
“Gum?” I offer Nova a stick of Big Red, and she declines. Dropping the pack in the cup holder, I grab her phone on the dashboard as she eases out of the Renaissance’s parking lot into the misty mid-morning Chicago traffic. “So, what’s the Taliesin Preservation? Sounds boring as hell.”
“Excuse me.” Keeping one hand on the steering wheel, Nova blindly grapples for her cell.
I hold the phone out of reach. “Eyes on the road before you get us killed.”
“Devin…”
“Don’t get your panties in a wad, Spitfire. I’m just pulling up your list. I won’t sneak a peek at your nude photos and X-rated texts.”
“You’re so irritating, you know that?”
“So I’ve been told.” I swipe at her screen, surprised she doesn’t have a password. Trusting? Or naïve? “Tell me about our next stop in”—I check the map—“Wisconsin. What’s this Taliesin?”
“It’s Tally-Ess-in,” she clarifies as she merges onto I-90 West. “You know who Frank Lloyd Wright was?”
I rack my brain, hating how this girl makes me feel uneducated. “The name is familiar, but I don’t know why.”
“He was an architect. Very well known. Um, he designed the Guggenheim in New York.”
“Ahh, yeah, Frank. Sure I know him.” A low laugh tumbles out of me, and I swear Nova rolls her eyes. “Give me a break. Why would I know who designed the Guggenheim?”
She dismisses my question with a flip of her hand. “My dad’s into design and art. I guess that’s why I know who he is. It’s not like I spend my time researching this stuff.”
Angling my back to the passenger door, I can’t help but stare. “That’s exactly what you do, isn’t it? You’re a Googling fiend who knows random facts about dead people who used to be famous.”
Nova’s laugh does something to my chest. “Not even close. My mom is, though. She’s always been obsessed with random facts. When planning this trip, she said Taliesin was one of the top attractions in the state. Since my dad likes design, she thought I’d like it, too.”
“Because your dad likes something, she expects you to like it?”
Her hands slide along the steering wheel, adjusting their grip. “I told you we’re close.”
Rich little daddy’s girl.I need to remember that. I turn to face forward again, needing to focus my gaze on anything but her delicate profile showed off by her hair removed from her neck today.“So, it’s what? A museum?”
“I don’t really know how to explain the place. It was his house. It’s something like thirty-thousand square feet. The building is used as a school and studio now, I guess. It’s a National Historic Landmark.”
“A landmark?” I slap my palm on the dash with an exaggerated flare. “Well, that changes everything.”
Nova’s knuckles whiten. “I needed a place in Wisconsin, okay. Just go with it. Take a nap or something. It’s only three and a half hours.”
“Wait. You needed something in Wisconsin? What do you mean?” This girl is less predictable than I anticipated.
* * *
NOVA
I’m not embarrassed by my plan or the reason behind this long trip, but I didn’t expect such pushback. Devin never even asked why we weren’t driving the direct route to California. He just said, “Yes.”
I rein in my desire to tap the steering wheel with impatience. “Don’t you have a bucket list?”
“Can’t say that I do.”
Of course he doesn’t.Teenage boys don’t think ahead. They just do whatfeelsright. “You should make one. Something my family is pretty big on is having no regrets. Life’s too uncertain. So we make all these goals, and one of mine is to hit all fifty states before I’m twenty-five. I’m marking nine states off with this trip.”
