by Noelle Adams
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.
Day Eleven
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.
That wasn’t what the real world was like, however, and the real world was about to catch up to them at last.
Ashley felt an ache start to grow in her chest. Not a sharp pain or sudden wound, but a gradual building up of tension. And the traffic jam transformed. It was no longer an irritation or frustration. Rather, it was the only thing holding off the looming descent of reality. The only thing keeping that horrible, imaginary clock from striking midnight. The traffic jam became a kind of safety net.
Eventually—after two hours—the traffic started to move. For another long time they inched along until they reached an exit for the town of Tea, which was evidently the last exit before the city.
Ashley had grown more and more scared, more and more tense, more and more distressed as the hours had passed. She tried to hide it from Ethan. She didn’t want him to think that she was silly or overly dramatic. But it felt to her like everything in her world was about to end.
And that damn clock in her mind wouldn’t stop chiming.
It was suppertime by the time they pulled off onto the exit, so they stopped at a gas station to buy as many snacks as they could afford with their remaining cash. There wasn’t one of the right chain for their credit card. Ashley tried to act cheerful as they were picking out their junk food. She made jokes and grinned at Ethan.
He seemed to notice her change in mood, though, because he kept studying her face, trying to catch her gaze. He smiled at her both sadly and encouragingly, with understanding evident in his eyes.
They didn’t talk about it. What could they say, anyway? Since they had nothing else to do, they decided to drive around the country roads until dark so they wouldn’t be so easy to find. They drove in deep, anxious silence, watching the farmland pass by, until the sun finally went down.
An hour later, Ashley was standing behind the Explorer while Ethan folded down the back seat to make it flat.
There was an eer
ie mood all around them in the night. The only light was the cold, dim illumination of the dome light. They’d parked in front of an empty warehouse in a lot with a few other cars that appeared to be permanently parked there. The Explorer didn’t look too out of place, so they’d decided they were as safe there as they were going to be tonight.
When the seat was folded down, they crawled into the flattened back, and Ethan pulled the rear hatch closed behind them. It was completely silent and pitch black. Ashley could barely see Ethan’s face by the dim light from the moon.
They hadn’t said anything but brief logistical questions and answers for almost two hours, but Ashley was pretty sure they were both feeling the same thing.
“Sorry we don’t have any blanket or pillows,” Ethan muttered, lowering himself to lay on the hard upholstered surface.
“Stop apologizing,” Ashley demanded, rolling over so that she was beside him. “You’re hardly to blame for our being stuck sleeping in this stupid SUV.”
“I am to blame,” he said, reaching over to pull her against him. “I got us into this mess.”
“If you say that one more time, I’m going to scratch your eyes out.”
“You can deny it all you want, but it’s true. I’m responsible for all of this. If you end up getting hurt…” He tightened his arms around her. “…in any way, then it's on my account. And I’ll never forgive myself.”
He might not be capable of forgiving himself, Ashley couldn’t help but think. If it came to her being hurt, then he would probably already be dead.
She forced herself to speak optimistically. “I thought we were going to make sure that we both get through this intact. We’ve muddled through so far. Surely we can make it another day.”
He didn’t reply, just pulled her closer.
She could hear his heart beating rapidly, could hear another gong strike on her imaginary clock. Every moment was drawing them closer to the end of this trip, the beginning of what was left of their lives.
She shifted against Ethan, trying to get so that her head was cushioned on his chest. They lay in silence for a very long time.