Chapter 19
chapter nineteen
Jude
Today's vocabulary word: detours
"What do you mean, the road is closed?"
"I mean what I said," Woody replied, his focus on writing out a receipt. "There's a monsoon rollin' in."
I pinched the bridge of my nose. I'd spent the entire day in this gas station, alternately reaming out the rental car agency for that fuckup, waiting for the part to arrive because I didn't trust Woody to not forget about it until the morning, and distracting myself with work.
I was also avoiding Audrey, though I preferred to think of it as giving her space. We'd be back in close quarters soon enough, and arriving at my mom's house as a happily engaged couple before bedtime. Assuming Woody was wrong about the road closure.
"Monsoon season doesn't start until next month," I said. "Late next month."
"That's how it usually goes," he said, stroking a hand over the beaded lariat tucked into his collar. "But it's stirring up early this year. Big one too. That's why they closed the passes."
I pointed to the endless blue sky on the other side of the windows. "Show me the storm, Woody."
"Oh, it's comin'. You can't see it, but it's comin'. The winds and dust storms tend to miss us up here but we'll get the rain, the floods. Thunder and lightning too."
I pulled up a map on my phone, zooming in on the area.
Sure enough, the roads leading out of the mountains popped up with hazardous condition warnings and local access only restrictions, and the major highways around Flagstaff and then Sedona were already ruby red with flash flood warnings.
Only an hour ago, it'd been smooth sailing all the way to my mother's house.
"Fuck." I dropped an elbow on the counter. We couldn't spend another night in this town. For so many reasons. "If we leave right now—"
"Then you'll get stuck in the worst of it and I don't think that pretty wife of yours wants to find out what a water rescue's all about."
I dug a knuckle into my temple and didn't bother correcting him about my wife. "Fuck."
"I know our little town isn't much but it's not that bad," Woody drawled.
I dragged my gaze up, taking in his deeply tanned skin and salt-and-pepper hair he kept tied back in a thin braid as I went. "The town's not my problem," I said. "The problem is that we needed to be in Sedona two days ago."
"You'll get there when you get there," he said. "We're havin' ourselves a rodeo tomorrow. You should come along."
I gathered up my laptop and notebooks, and shoved them all into my backpack. "Thanks for the tip," I said on my way out the door.
The car was up and running now but I didn't drive back to the motel yet. I sat there, staring at the mountains and the fine layer of dark purple clouds pressing in on the distant horizon. After a few minutes of letting my frustration boil over, I put in my earbuds and called my mother.
It rang for longer than I thought possible but then she picked up and I heard Gloria Estefan playing in the background for at least fifteen seconds before she said, "Hello?"
"Hey, Mom."
"Oh, Jude! I've been wondering where you were," she said.
"Please tell me you'll be here before the storm.
We've been out bringing in all our outdoor cushions because everyone says they'll blow away if we don't. Gary up the street says his got stuck in a tree last summer. Had to hire some kids to get 'em down."
"Gary up the street, huh?"
"He's a real character, that one," she said. "He likes to know what's going on in the neighborhood."
"I bet he does," I said. I wanted to meet this Gary from up the street. "About this storm. It doesn't look like we're going to make it there tonight."
"I don't think I believe this story about delays." She chuckled. "I think you're hiding out in the middle of nowhere and having fun in that motel."
Memories of sprinting across the parking lot with a lizard trapped in Tupperware flooded my mind. "Yeah, that's not really what's happening here, Mom."
"You know, you could've just told me that you wanted a few nights alone," she went on. "You think I don't understand what it's like? Being a young parent and wanting to get some adult time—"
"Let's just end that thought there," I said. "Believe me, no one wants to get to Sedona more than Audrey. We're just having a run of bad luck."
"Or it's very good luck," she said. "Road trips and middle-of-nowhere motels can be very romantic."
I pushed past the memory of Audrey's palm on my forearm while she slept. Of her turning toward me in the night. Of her brushing that braid over her lips. My lips. "We'll be there tomorrow," I said, the words crisp. "It's a five-hour drive but we'll hit the road early and be there by noon."
"What's the rush? Sleep in. Enjoy yourselves. I'll be happy to see you whenever you roll in."
I didn't know how we'd gone from a packed itinerary with events scheduled morning, noon, and night to What's the rush? but I wasn't going to call her on it. "I'll let you know when we're about an hour away."
"Give my love to that darling girl of yours.
Tell her I have lots of plans for us," she said.
I wouldn't be telling Audrey that unless I wanted her to ask fifty-four thousand times what it meant.
"I'll see you tomorrow. And stay safe out there, kiddo.
Gary says it only takes a few minutes for flash floods to wash you right outta town. "
"Good ol' Gary," I said. "I'll talk to you tomorrow, Mom."
She made kissy sounds that I used to find annoying and now I just appreciated I still got to hear them. "Love you, kiddo."
"Love you too."
I headed toward the motel, and the minute I made the turn into the parking lot, I spotted Audrey sitting in a metal chair outside our door. She had a book in her lap and her hair gathered over one shoulder, big sunglasses blocking her eyes from view.
She paid me no attention when I pulled into the slot in front of her.
I drank her in, allowing myself to study the long line of her legs and the slight downturn of her lips as she read.
She'd grown and changed so much that there were moments when I barely recognized her, but this quiet woman lost in her book, this one I knew better than anyone else on earth.
And she was going to kill me when I broke the news about tonight. That, or she'd insist I deliver her to the closest airport and put an end to this adventure.
After this morning and the…reactions I'd had, it wasn't the worst idea.
I grabbed my backpack and climbed out of the car. I slammed the door behind me but the book kept her attention. I strolled into her space and tipped the book back to get a look at the cover. Inkheart, I read. "Must be good because you've been lost in those pages for a few minutes."
"I'm thinking of reading it with my class next year." She fidgeted with a skinny pink highlighter. "It's a little longer than I usually prefer but it's a great story."
I skimmed the back cover. "This might be Percy's vibe."
"What does he like to read?"
I rocked back on my heels because that was a loaded question. My kid had some wild preferences. "Many things, but especially stories with connections to mythology."
"Do you want any recommendations? Because I spend half of my fifth-grade years on world mythologies and modern retellings, and I've read everything out there."
"That'd be a big help. Thank you."
She blinked as if just now noticing the rental car at my back and shot to her feet. "It's fixed? We can go?"
"It's fixed," I started, "but there's another problem."
"No, there's not." She tossed the book and highlighter to the chair. "There are no problems because we've already had all the problems and we're done with problems. The only problem is that we're standing here talking and not getting the hell out of this town."
I slipped my hands into my pockets. "There's a storm coming in. A big monsoon. I guess some of the roads have a tendency to flash-flood and they shut them down as a precaution."
"We are not stranded here for another night," she said, the words frayed. "We can't stay here. I won't."
"Believe me, I want another option as much as you do."
"I don't actually believe that," she cried, flinging her hands out at her sides.
"That's tough shit, princess, because it's the truth," I said.
"We should've waited for the rescheduled flight to Phoenix," she said, shaking her head as she paced away from me.
"We're going to arrive at the exact same time, but instead of spending that time in my dry, lizard-free home, we're out here roughing it like settlers on the Oregon Trail who're going to die of dysentery. "
"We're nowhere near the Oregon Trail."
She whirled around, her hands fisted at her hips. "Would you just shut the hell up? Because I get it. You want to punish me. You want me to suffer."
"That's not true. It's not true at all. You know it's killing me to be stuck here when we're missing everything my mom planned for us."
Her scoff could've cracked ice. "Right, because dragging me in front of your mother and making me put on the fiancée show isn't one more punishment. Because this entire week isn't full of opportunities for you to make a fool out of me and watch me squirm."
"That's not what I'm doing," I said through gritted teeth.
"Maybe you didn't plan the delays or the broken-down car," she said, pacing again. "But you can't tell me you didn't love shoving me into a damp, dingy motel room. It's almost better revenge than trapping me in this heinous lie of yours."
"Would you just calm the fuck down?"
She turned toward me, a murderous glare in her eyes.
I'd swear I heard fangs descend. "Do you want me to calm the fuck down?
Or have you just been waiting for me to throw a spoiled little rich girl tantrum?
It'd give you all the permission you need to confirm every terrible thing you already think about me. "
I closed the distance between us and leaned in, just enough to pick up the scent of her shampoo. "I've come by all my knowledge of you honestly. I don't need confirmation of anything. You've done enough of that on your own."
"You have no idea what you're talking about," she said, the words low and cold.
"Yeah? Then consider the possibility that neither do you."
I shouldered my backpack and, once again, walked away from Audrey Saunders with no clue where I was going or what I'd do when I got there.