“I don’t know why he married me in the first place. He never wanted me, he wanted her. I should have known better. I mean, look at me! I’m riding in a car with a guy I hardly know, going only god-knows-where. This is stupid.”
Jess gripped the steering wheel tightly, pretending that the cool plastic was Lindsay’s neck. She’d been chattering non-stop for three hours. Three hours! “Look,” he said sternly, trying not to raise his voice too much. “If you think this is so stupid, then you’re welcome to go home.”
Lindsay ignored him. “Are we going to stop soon? I really have to pee.”
“I told you not to drink that Big Gulp.”
“I was thirsty.”
“If I stopped this car everytime you had to pee, it would take three weeks to get to Venice Beach. I’m trying to make time here.”
“And I’m trying not to make tinkles on your car seat!” She smiled triumphantly when Jess pulled into the rest station. “Thank you!” she said cheerfully, leaping from the car practically before it stopped moving.
Jess took a deep breath and tried not to think about leaving her. Leaving her here would be great. The rest of the ride would be so peaceful. Then again, he supposed if he were to leave her somewhere, he should probably leave her at a Wal-Mart like that guy did in that stupid movie Sasha made him watch. Then Lindsay could plant a tree, have a baby, and live through a tornado
Eventually Lindsay returned, a handful of pamphlets and flyers clutched in one hand. Jess grimaced as he spotted something bright and cheery pictured on one of them.
He hated tourism.
There was peacefulness in the car for a few minutes, until she tired of her pamphlets and focused her attentions in another direction. A direction that caused a low growl to begin in Jess’s throat.
“No,” Jess said firmly when Lindsay’s hand strayed too close to the radio dial.
She let out a giant sigh, but returned her small hand to her lap. “I hate all this death metal,” she grumbled.
Death Metal? Jess was sure that Incubus had never been classified as “death” anything. He wasn’t that fond of the group himself, but the only other two frequencies he could pick up were playing country and Ja Rule. Incubus was the lesser of the evils.
Jess motioned over his right shoulder. “There’s a CD player back there,” he told her. “If the batteries aren’t dead you can put in a CD.”
Lindsay looked like she was about to ream him out for not mentioning the CD player earlier, but she must have decided not to look the gift horse in the mouth. Next thing he knew, she was digging through a pile of clothes, some dirty, some clean, in his backseat. Then she looked through his binder of CD’s, making annoyed clucks of her tongue with the turn of every page.
A flash caught her eye and she dove into the backseat again, returning with a CD jewel case clutched in her hand like it was treasure. “A-ha!” she said with a grin, and flipped off the radio.
Moments later, Jess’ ears were assaulted by what sounded suspiciously like a boy band. He jerked the wheel, cutting off a minivan and parking in the breakdown lane. “What is that?” he demanded, snatching the case out of Lindsay’s hand.
It figured. Jess was officially never letting Lily and her little friends in his car again. Not if they left things like this evil “Avril Levigne” demon CD in it.
***
“Does the library have internet access?”
Jess heaved a large sigh. Suddenly Lindsay was all interested in the local library, and he couldn’t get it. The closest thing to a book she’d touched so far on this trip was an issue of In Style, so the whole library thing had been a puzzle until she mentioned the internet.
“What time does it close?”
“Not until ten on the weekends.” The woman at the counter looked just as tired and harried as Jess felt. Her face was brown and wrinkled like a raison, giving her the appearance of a walking poster for skin cancer. The large mole on the side of her neck didn’t help either.
Lindsay’s face brightened. “Great!” she said, turning to Jess. “Can we go down to the library after we put our bags in the room?”
“Why do I have to come?” Jess heaved both their duffel bags over one shoulder and started walking in the direction of room 204. He’d originally been planning on simply sleeping in the car on his way, but somehow he had a feeling that Lindsay wouldn’t like that.
Why do you care? He wondered. Two weeks ago he never would have adjusted his plans for anyone, let alone this little blonde princess. Now he was shelling out precious money to sleep in a room that smelled like Doritos and weed.
Lindsay shrugged. “You don’t have to come, I guess. I just thought you might want to. I mean, you like books, right?”
Jess grunted.
“So, come with me. It’ll be fun.”
Jess snorted.
“Okay, I’ll be quick. C’mon, don’t make me go by myself.”
“Fine.”
Jess found himself browsing a few shelves of discarded library books while Lindsay surfed the ‘net. He would have been more annoyed at how long she was taking if there hadn’t been a few interesting looking books. He was just starting to get antsy when Lindsay bounded up next to him, a stack of papers clutched in her hands.
“What’s all that?”
Lindsay looked down at the pile. “Divorce papers,” she said calmly.
“Huh?”
“If Dean doesn’t contest the divorce, he can just sign these papers and it will be all over with. If he does contest, well, I printed out some resources to help me figure out my next step.”
Jess stared at her in amazement. “You can get divorced over the internet,” he stated.
“Apparently.”
“Are you sure?”
Lindsay gaped at him. “Sure? My husband was sleeping with another woman. Of course I’m sure, Jess. If I wasn’t sure I wouldn’t be here right now.”
“Huh.”
“I don’t get you. “ Frowning, she went up to the front desk to pay for her printouts.