“Thank you!” She said, grinning as she scrambled to climb into the car, full of excitement. She already had her duffel bag packed, determined to leave that day whether John said yes or not. Fighting the urge to hug him out of excitement, she tossed the bag into the backseat.
“Sounds good to me. I do have one question though–I swear it’s the only one I”m gonna ask, you know, except for like, it’s a life or death question. If my mama calls asking if you’ve seen me, can you kinda lie and say you didn’t? I really don’t wanna deal with her, if she even tries to look for me.”
She doubted the older woman would actually look for her, but it was better to be prepared.
“Okay, so I have another question, and I swear this is the last one: where are we headed?”
The first goddamn thing she did, soon’s she hopped in his truck, was ask questions. he sighed.
“you and your mama, that’s your business. if you don’t want me t’know where you are when she calls, then I don’t know where you are.” Better for her anyway, Maryellen ain’t any kind of person to have in your life. It disconcerted him to think that there were people who probably thought the same thing of him and Sam. But he’d always been trying to do his best; he wasn’t sure Maryellen had a best.
he sighed again, throwing the truck into gear to get going. “we’re goin where I decide we’re goin. Just now there’s a job one state over.” That’s more than he intended to explain, and his grip tightened on the wheel. “I ain’t used to havin anybody ride with me, so I don’t want a lot of chatter.”
