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“Home?”
“To meet my mom.” I’m suddenly bursting with excitement and although I take it as a good sign that she hasn’t bolted from the car as I circle around it, she looks more than little shocked.
“You’re crazy,” she responds, even as she reaches back for her seatbelt. “I thought you weren’t cleared to drive yet.”
“True. It’s close enough to the timeframe they gave me and I stopped taking the pain killers, so we’ll just ignore that.”
“Where does she live?” she asks as I speed out of the parking lot, hoping to stall on answering that until I get us to the highway.
“Colorado.”
“Where in Colorado?”
“Just over the border.”
“Which border?” That question has me throwing my head back and laughing harder than I have in a long time.
Damn, she doesn’t miss a trick. “I promise I’ll have you back for work on Monday, alright?”
“I should have you turn my car around, but you look so happy all of sudden.” Quickly looking over at her, the grin on her face must match the one that I’m wearing.
“It’s been too long, but it feels good to know we can surprise her tomorrow,” I say, reaching for her hand.
“What did you mean about your dad earlier?”
Molly
Royce is quiet for long moments after I ask the question, one that I would be sensitive about if he had asked me. In some ways, I’m sure the answer is pivotal to both of our personal stories.
“She wouldn’t ever talk about him, but once I hit school age, well, people knew the story and kids talk shit,” he finally says. And yes, I know as well as anyone how kids repeatthe shitthey hear from their parents. “I didn’t know how to ask her, without hurting her so I asked my older sister. She at least remembered him.”
“Is he dead?”
“Yes, but not before leaving a path of destruction behind him,” he says, turning on the blinkers and pointing to a sign for a gas station.
“I’m going to run inside, do you want anything?” I ask him when he pulls up to a pump.
“Good idea, hit the bathroom before we run out of decent options.”
“Well, more important than that, we can’t take a road trip without snacks!”
Royce laughs at that before slipping me some cash. I try to wave it away, but he’s determined. When I come back out with a couple bags full of treats, he has the hood of my car up and is talking to another man with a Northern Grizzlies cut.
For some reason, that it turns out to be Jake makes this spur of the moment, first-date road trip a little less scary. It’s just comforting that it’s someone whose wife likes me well enough to report me missing if Royce turns out to be a homicidal maniac.
“Hey, Jake, can you let Charlie know I need a raincheck for tomorrow? I’ll call her when I get back,” I ask him and he nods in reply.
“Sugar?” Royce calls out to me as I’m about to slide into the passenger seat. “When was the last time you changed your oil?”
“I don’t know, what does that little sticker thingy say?” I pop my head back out in time to see Jake and Royce exchange a glance.
“The sticker said that it was due for an oil change last November. I was hoping you just didn’t get a new sticker,” he replies, pinching the bridge of his nose. “How about your brakes? Have you noticed any issues with them?”
“Like what?” I shrug, I don’t remember ever doing anything to the brakes.
“Like how you have to stomp your foot down to get your car to stop?”
Jake lets out a snort and pats Royce on the back before he turns toward his motorcycle. “Safe travels, kids.”
