Road Tripping (24 page)

And waves of
pleasure overtook her, starting at her center and radiating outward. Her orgasm
was so overwhelming, so beautiful that Ashley nearly bent in half backwards at
the power of it. Her mouth fell open in a silent scream of completion.

And Ethan was
right behind her. He jerked a few more times into her spasming body, and then
his hands clamped down on her hips as he let out a long, low, throaty moan as
he came.

The ripples
from their climaxes lingered for a silent span of time. Then Ashley collapsed
forward onto his chest, limp and replete.

They clung to
one another for a few minutes. Not saying anything. Not needing to say
anything. But finally, Ethan started shifting underneath her.

“Honey,” he
whispered. “I should go back to my own room. And I need to take care of the
condom.”

Ashley didn’t
move off of him, didn’t stop clutching him.

“Ashley, can’t
you let me go?”

“No. Never let
you go.” And then she pushed some wet kisses into his neck.

He got some
leverage with his legs and rolled them both onto their sides. Then his voice
was in her ear. “After tonight, you won’t have to let go. I promise, Ashley.
I’m in this with you forever.”

And somehow,
that was what she needed to hear. And she wasn’t overwhelmed or scared or
uncertain. She just felt right and a little bit mushy. She moved her arms from
his body and folded them in front of her chest.

Ethan started
to pull out of her at last. He moved very carefully, protecting both Ashley and
the condom.

When he got out
of bed, Ashley got up with him. She put back on her nightgown as he put back on
his pajama pants. She walked to the door with him. Kissed him once more before
he left.

Ethan silently
opened the bedroom door and started to step into the hall. Then he stopped
abruptly and bent down to pick something up from the floor of the hallway.

He was holding
it delicately, and his face was bewildered as he showed it to Ashley.

They had been wrong.
Should have known better.

There was such
a thing as wisdom in the world. And eighty-year-old women were seldom as naïve
as they appeared.

Mrs. Tate had blessed
their union by laying something on the floor in front of the door.

A spray of
Queen Anne’s Lace, with a deep red heart.

A blessing for
life, a blessing for love, a blessing forever.

And it was the
end of the tenth day.

outside
of Sioux City, Iowa

Mrs. Tate drank tea instead of
coffee. It wasn’t the most propitious beginning to the day.

After getting
dressed, Ashley accepted her cup of tea with as sincere a thanks as she could
muster. Mrs. Tate had been more than kind to them—had perhaps been instrumental
in their reconciliation—and, despite the tea, Ashley couldn’t help but be
grateful.

They couldn't
leave until Mr. Tate arrived back from his overnight trip, so they just wasted
time for a few hours, doing light chores and making conversation.

Mr. Tate didn’t
arrive until after ten o’clock, and then they had to go through introductions,
explanations, and preparations before he was able to drive them into the city.

Eventually they
were ready to go and said their thanks and goodbyes. Ethan and Mr. Tate headed
down to the old Oldsmobile, but Mrs. Tate stopped Ashley before she could
follow.

“Dear,” Mrs.
Tate said, “I’m so glad that you and your young man worked things out so
nicely.”

Ashley couldn’t
help but smile back. “A lot of it is thanks to you.”

“I do what I
can, but what I wanted to tell you is this.”

When she
paused, Ashley tilted her head, having no idea what to expect.

“I don’t want
to overstep my place, but I did want to tell you to be careful.”

Ashley felt a
strange pressure growing in her chest. “With what?”

“With your
young man.” Mrs. Tate’s eyes were so deep and so truly blue. “He’s still on the
cusp, you know. Still at the crossroads. He wants to be good, but he doesn’t
always think he is. He may try to pull away from you.”

Ashley grew
still, thinking about that.

“Don’t let
him,” Mrs. Tate urged softly. “Don’t let him pull away. He’s had a lot of
trouble in his life, and he’s still worried about dragging you into it. He’ll
be scared of hurting you, of tainting you. You have to show him that you don’t
fear it.”

“I will,” Ashley
whispered, looking at Ethan’s auburn hair shining in the morning sun. “I know
what you mean.”

“It won’t be
easy. Most women wouldn’t want to bother, and wouldn’t be strong enough to do
it even if they did.”

Ashley smiled,
feeling a surge of confidence. Her goal in life was no longer being a good girl
with a picture-perfect future. It was about being a good woman, a good person. It
was about being
Ashley
. “I do. And I am. I’m not going to let him slip
away from me.”

“I know you’re
strong enough. I felt it from the very beginning.” Mrs. Tate leaned over to
kiss Ashley on the cheek. “We’re more alike than you know.”

Ashley wondered
if that was so. Kind of hoped it was. Then she gave the old lady a hug and said
another goodbye.

She walked
slowly down to where Ethan was waiting. To where her future was waiting.

And she wasn’t
scared at all.

***

Mr. Tate drove them into Sioux
City and, at Ethan's request, dropped them off at the airport. Ethan had
explained that they had a friend who worked at the airport who could help them
out, but Ashley knew that Ethan was thinking more about all of the cars in
long-term parking.

After Mr. Tate
had driven away, Ethan and Ashley made their way to the long-term parking lots
and started hunting for one that wasn't locked.

Eventually, Ashley
found an older Ford Explorer with an unlocked trunk. They got in, and Ethan did
his hot-wiring thing, and they used most of their remaining cash to pay the
parking fee as they pulled out of the lot.

They drove in mostly
silence for almost an hour, until they saw an encouraging mileage sign for
Sioux Falls.

“Wow,” Ashley
said. “We’ll be in Sioux Falls in less than twenty minutes. I can’t believe
we’re really here.”

“Yeah. Who
would have thought that we would make it so quickly? It only took us ten days
to complete a twenty-hour trip.”

Ashley
chuckled. “So what’s our plan once we get there?”

Ethan stared at
the road in front of him and looked a little uncomfortable.

“Ethan?” Ashley
prompted, leaning over to peer at his face. “You’ve got to tell me what we’re
going to do when we get there. Remember what we talked about yesterday? This is
an equal partnership. You don’t get to have great sex and my stimulating
company and then do whatever you want.” She kept her tone light, although she
was dead serious.

He smiled at
her. “I know. There’s no way in hell I’ll forget about what happened yesterday.
I’m going to work on it. It’s just going to be an adjustment. I’ve been doing
whatever I think is best for a long time.”

Ethan was the
product of a one-night stand, and his mother had died from complications two
days after he’d been born. His grandparents had loved him and done their best,
but he’d never had as much supervision—or as much family—as she and Mark had.

“I know,” Ashley
told him with a fond smile, thinking he was a pretty amazing man and she was
lucky to have him. “We have tons of time to work on it.”

As soon as she
said the words, however, she felt a sudden pang of fear. They were about to
face something very serious in Sioux Falls—maybe even life and death.

They might not
have tons of time after all. They might not even have another week. She’d felt
disconnected from the danger for the last few days—since she’d been caught up
in Ethan and their new relationship—but they weren’t in some bubble. They were
in the real world.

And, sitting in
the passenger seat, it all seemed to catch up with her. It felt like something
dreadful was approaching, impending. She glanced at the digital display of the
clock and suddenly imagined she could hear it ticking. Striking. Beginning to
sound the twelve gongs for midnight. The end of the day.

She pushed the
crazy panic to the back of her mind and was able to keep smiling at Ethan.

But she wasn’t
able to fool him after all. His eyes grew soft as he murmured, “I know. But I’m
planning for both of us to make it out of this alive.”

“
We’re
planning. Now please tell me what we’re going to do when we get to Sioux
Falls.”

“I’ve got to
meet up with the guy there. It’s not going to be easy because he won’t talk to
me on the phone—he’s convinced his phone is bugged. He also thinks he’s always
being followed.”

“By Buster’s
guys from all the way in Virginia?”

“Yeah, I don’t
know. Jones has guys in his pocket all along the route, but he isn’t some international
criminal mastermind. He might have some guys here, though. Or he might have hired
some guns to watch this guy the way he did with me.”

“So, when
you’re able to meet with him, you’ll look at this evidence he has and then
together you’ll figure out a plan to get Buster off your back?”

“Right.”

“Couldn’t you
just give the evidence to the authorities? The ATF or whoever handles
moonshine?”

“We could. I’ve
been thinking about that. But I don’t want to be dragged into a court case if I
can help it. I’m not that noble. To tell you the truth, I don’t even care about
bringing Buster down. If he wants to sell his whisky without paying taxes, I’m
happy to leave him to that. I just don’t want to be involved anymore. And I
don’t want him to kill me.”

“I don’t want
him to kill you either.” Ashley made a frustrated gesture with her hands. “This
all sounds kind of crazy. Are you sure it’s not some kind of elaborate hoax? Or
maybe you’ve made it all up, just so you could get me alone on this trip so you
could have your wicked way with me.”

Ethan reached
over and stroked her hair. “If I’d have thought of that idea, I’d have done it
months ago.”

“I’m not sure I
believe that. You were so convinced of your own unworthiness that you’d never
have made a move at all if I hadn’t thrown myself at you.”

“I might have
surprised you.”

“Maybe so. Where
did all this traffic come from?” Ashley asked, changing the subject as they
started to slow down. “All of a sudden, it’s bumper to bumper.”

“We’re
approaching the city, so I suppose that explains some of it. But still, it seems
a little excessive.”

The line of
cars in both lanes kept getting slower and slower. Eventually, they were barely
moving.

“There must be
an accident or something.” Ashley tried to see beyond the stream of slow-moving
vehicles in front of them. “It looks like things are at a complete stand-still
up there. Of course they are. How could we have expected to get through this
farcical road trip without at least one massive traffic jam?”

“Great,” Ethan muttered,
starting to look grouchy. “Just what we need. Trapped on the interstate right
before we finally get to Sioux Falls.”

He clicked on
the radio and scanned for a local station. After a minute, they heard a news
announcement about the twenty-car pile-up on I-29 N just outside of Sioux
Falls. Traffic was backed up for ten miles. It was evidently the largest
traffic jam in the history of the city.

“We really
should have warned them that we were coming here, with our absurdly bad luck,” Ashley
groaned. “This is ridiculous.”

They had now
come to a complete stop. They could see from the brake lights in front of them
that people were starting to put their cars into park. Not a very promising
observation.

Eventually,
after they had been stopped for more than five minutes, Ethan shifted the
Explorer into park as well with a frustrated, throaty mumble.

They sat there
without moving for fifteen more minutes, occasionally complaining to each other
or making caustic comments about whatever malicious fate had been planning
their trip.

People in other
cars had started to get out of their vehicles, standing on the side of the road
chatting to each other or walking to see what was going on further down the
interstate.

Ethan rolled
their windows down and leaned his seat back. “Well, I suppose we can try to
catch up on some more sleep.” He closed his eyes and relaxed his features.
“Wake me up if we start to move.”

Ashley was
pretty sure he wasn’t really sleeping, but she remained quiet, observing the
excitement going on around them. Several people from different cars had now
climbed into the back of one pickup truck and had broken out a case of Coke and
an enormous bag of chips. She didn’t know if they’d already been acquainted or
had just become friends, but it seemed to be a very friendly gathering. She
thought about going over to join them.

Her experience
with traffic jams before had led her to believe that people usually reacted
negatively to such situations and started yelling at each other. Maybe things
were different here in South Dakota.

There was a man
on the phone standing next to their Explorer, and Ashley shamelessly
eavesdropped on his conversation. He appeared to be trying to explain to his
girlfriend why he might be about three hours late for their date.

When he hung
up, he noticed her listening, so he gave her a casual greeting.

They chatted
for a minute about the annoyance of the traffic, and during their brief
conversation, Ashley happened to idly mention the fact that she and Ethan
didn’t have a phone. The man kindly asked if they needed to contact someone and
if they wanted to borrow his.

Ethan, who Ashley
had known hadn’t really been asleep, opened his eyes at this offer. He reached
out for the phone, took it, and dialed a number he knew by heart.

The phone call
was clearly in some sort of code—since it was about flowers that were supposed
to be delivered. Even from the short phone call, Ashley could tell that the
news hadn’t been good. After returning the phone to their friendly neighbor, Ethan
rolled up the windows. “He’s doesn’t think he can get away until tomorrow
morning—he wouldn’t even consider meeting today. So I suppose it doesn’t matter
if we’re stuck here all afternoon.”

“So what are we
going to do?”

“Find somewhere
to spend the night, and then see him first thing in the morning.” Ethan was
looking more and more disgruntled.

Ashley was
starting to get worried. “But we have no money for a hotel room. Where are we
going to spend the night? And what are we going to eat?”

 “I don’t know.
We have a couple of dollars left and the credit card, so we can buy something
to snack on at least. But as for tonight…” He looked anxious and helpless, both
very uncharacteristic expressions for him. “I guess we’ll have to sleep in the
car. I’m sorry I got us into this mess.”

“Stop it. We’re
not going to get into that crap again. I’m not going to fall apart if we spend
one night in the back of an SUV. But where are we going to park it?”

“I don’t know,”
he said again, an admission he clearly was reluctant to voice. “I’m worried
about lingering around Sioux Falls all night. They know we’re headed here now,
and so that’s where they’ll be searching.”

“If we ever
start moving again, maybe we can get off at one of the exits before the city
and spend the night in one of the little towns on the outskirts.”

Ethan nodded,
his expression glum. “That’s probably the safest option. We’ll hope for the
best.” He was still clearly anxious. More anxious than she’d ever seen him.

And it
terrified Ashley.

She’d known
things were serious, known there was danger. But the whole trip was so
comically absurd and implausible that the reality of the situation had always
been pushed into the back of her mind. Only the night Ethan had been shot had
she genuinely known real fear.

Until now.

She could hear
that metaphorical clock still chiming off the hours in her head, sounding the
impending close of day. They were almost in Sioux Falls. Their road trip was
about to be over. Which meant that the wacky, ridiculous, surreal world she and
Ethan had been living in was about to disintegrate around them. She’d known it
couldn’t last forever, but it had always felt like it would. Like she and Ethan
could go on indefinitely in this blissful state of silly connection.