Amy & Roger's Epic Detour (34 page)

I turned to say something to him just as I saw the Liberty pull up in front of the main building. Roger got out and slammed the door behind him, shutting his phone. He looked around, ran his hands through his hair, and then, as though it was an afterthought, smoothed it down the way I’d done for him the day before.

I looked at Lucien, then slid down a little in the seat, which was completely futile, since I was still totally exposed. But it still made me feel a little less like I was spying on someone. “Why is he here?” I asked, just as I got my answer.

The door to the main building opened and out walked the prettiest girl I’d ever seen in my life. Even though we were a ways away, she seemed to have that aura. The one you could sense from celebrities when you saw them in person. In Los Angeles, this happened with some regularity—normally nothing more than a quick glance before you were hustled out of the way by a pack of paparazzi. But a glance was usually long enough to show you that specialness, that glow that the truly beautiful seemed to have. This girl had it. In spades. “Hadley?” I asked, knowing the answer.

“Hadley,” Lucien confirmed.

The picture Bronwyn had shown me hadn’t done her justice. She was tall and lanky, and had the kind of perfect features that made you wonder why some modeling scout hadn’t discovered her years before. She was wearing jeans and a polo shirt, but it might as well have been couture, the way she was wearing them. As I saw her, and saw Roger looking at her, I understood why we’d come all this way. I understood why he’d be willing to put up with me, a stupid high schooler, just for a chance to see her again. I watched as he walked up to her, the same feeling in my stomach as whenever I watched a horror movie. I didn’t want to look, but at the same time, I knew I wouldn’t be able to look away. I thought for a moment that they were going to hug, but then he took a step back and just raised a hand in a wave.

“What do you think is going to happen?” I whispered to Lucien. He smiled and rolled his eyes.

“Amy, we’re about thirty feet away. I don’t think they can hear us.”

“I know,” I said. “But still.” I watched them talking, Roger with his hands in his pockets, nodding to the car. Hadley nodded, then motioned to her left, and the two of them walked around the stable building and out of sight. “Damn,” I murmured.

“You know,” said Lucien. “Depending on what goes on over there”—he gestured in the direction they had gone—“you guys are welcome to stay on for few days if you want. It’s been great having you around.”

I looked over at him. “That’s really nice of you,” I said. “But you’ve already done way too much. And I think I need to get back on the road.”

He nodded, as though he’d been expecting this response. “Where y’all headed next?”

“We haven’t talked about it,” I said. “But …” I thought about the trip my father had wanted to take with me and Charlie, and how right now I was just a few hours from Memphis. But now I didn’t know what the status of this trip was. For all I knew, it could be ending, right at this moment. I stopped and sat up a little straighter when I saw Hadley stalking out from where she and Roger had disappeared. She didn’t look happy; her mouth was twisted and her posture seemed stiffer. She didn’t look quite so pretty anymore. Roger followed a moment later. He was walking more slowly and had his head down; it was hard to read his expression. Hadley walked through the stable door and slammed it with such force that even thirty or so feet away, I flinched. “Well,” I said.

“Yeah,” Lucien agreed.

I watched as Roger leaned against the Liberty, still looking down at the ground. “So I guess I’d better be going,” I said to Lucien.

“I guess so,” he agreed. “Want me to drive you over there?”

“It’s okay,” I said, getting out of the car. “It’s just down the hill. I’ll walk.” Lucien got out of the driver’s side and met me in front of the hood. “I know this is none of my business,” I said, the words coming a little haltingly. “But you should go on that trip with your father.”

He blinked, like this wasn’t what he had expected me to say. “The thing is—,” he started.

I shook my head, interrupting him. “Just do it,” I said. “It’ll make him happy. And because at some point, you might … might not be able to.” Lucien nodded, his expression more serious, and I knew he understood what I was saying. I looked at his face for another moment, making sure I’d remember it and realizing that I was going to miss this person I hadn’t even known this time yesterday. “Thank you for everything.”

“It was fun,” he said a little wistfully. He looked down at me and smiled. “You’re great. You know that, right?”

I wasn’t sure how to respond to that, so I just let out a little embarrassed laugh. “And you should keep making the animals,” I said. “Really. I’ll be mad if you don’t.”

“Well, we don’t want that,” Lucien said. And then, before I even had a chance to register that it was going to happen, he leaned down and kissed me.

It was quick; I only just had time to respond before he broke away and walked back to the driver’s side. “Stay in touch,” he called to me, and thinking of the fact that I’d put his cell number into my phone when he wrote it on the whiteboard, I nodded and waved as he started the car and backed it onto the main road. Possibly on his way to make something. Maybe another owl. But more likely, a replacement moose. I watched until there was only the dust the Jeep had left behind, then turned and headed down the hill, doing that stumble-run that was inevitable when trying to maneuver down steep hills.

Roger looked up as I jogged down the last part of the hill. “Where did you come from?”

I gestured to the top of the hill. “We were just looking around when we saw you….”

“Oh,” Roger said. “Yeah.” I looked at him, trying to see if I could register what the outcome of the conversation was, but his face was oddly blank. “Well,” he said after a moment, “ready to go?”

“I am,” I said. “Are you okay?”

Roger nodded. “You know,” he said, giving me the first smile of that morning, “I think I am.” I walked around to my side of the car, and just as I tried to open the door, I heard the
beep
of the doors being locked with the clicker. Sure enough, I couldn’t open the door.

“Roger,” I said. “Come on.”

“What?” he said, smiling at me across the hood. “Are you sure you don’t want to
drive
?” The emphasis he put on the last word let me know that he hadn’t forgotten what Lucien had said. And that I’d been right in thinking he wasn’t thrilled about it.

“No,” I said, trying not to laugh. “Let me in.”

“Okay,” he said, clicking the lock open and then clicking it closed again just as I lunged for the handle.

“Stop it!”

“What? Just because you’re not fast enough—” The stable door rolled open again, and Hadley stood there, looking at us. Judging from her expression, she had not been expecting to see me.

“Oh,” she said, looking from me to Roger.

“We were just going,” Roger said, beeping the car unlocked once again. I had a feeling it would stay open this time.

“Is this her?” Hadley asked, looking at me. I blinked at her, stunned. She and Roger had discussed
me
?

“Hello,” I said, not sure what the proper response to that question was.
Yes
? “I’m Amy—”

“You’re bothering the horses,” she said, interrupting me. “If you could just …”

“We’re leaving,” Roger said quietly.

“Yes, well,” she said, but didn’t seem to have anything to follow this. She gave me a long look, and I looked right back at her, glad once again for Bronwyn’s clothes and trying to remember to stand up straight. Then she turned sharply and headed back into the stable, the door rolling shut with a bang.

I got into the car quickly. Roger got in as well, and we buckled our seat belts in unison. “What happened?” I asked. “What did you say?”

Roger put the key in the ignition and looked over at me. “I told her good-bye,” he said. Then he started the car and put it in gear, and we headed out.

6
Life Savers

We both will be received in Graceland.

—Paul Simon

“But I thought you didn’t like Elvis,” Roger said as we drove down Interstate 65, backtracking, heading to Tennessee. It wasn’t too hot out yet, and we had all four windows down, the breeze tossing my ponytail and hopefully not pulling too much of my hair out.

“I love Elvis,” I said, thinking of all the lyrics that had just always been a part of my life, all the songs I’d known without even remembering learning them. I suddenly realized these few months were probably the longest I’d ever gone without listening to him.

“But you didn’t want to hear him,” Roger said, his brow furrowing as he glanced in his mirror and switched to the left-hand lane. “I remember. You put a moratorium on all things Elvis.”

“My father,” I said, taking a breath before I could get myself to say those words. It hit me that because it hurt so much to talk about him, I’d stopped talking about him altogether. Which suddenly seemed like the worst kind of betrayal. I had just been trying not to remember what had happened. But that didn’t mean that I had wanted to forget him. “He loved Elvis.”

“Oh,” Roger said, glancing at me.

I nodded and looked out the window. But to my surprise, I wasn’t done talking yet. And it felt like the talking might be okay. A little shakily, I continued. “We were supposed to go to Graceland in July. Charlie, my father, and me.”

Roger looked over at me and smiled. “Then we should get you there, I think.”

I turned to him, about to apologize for how out of the way it was, how we were backtracking, but I stopped myself. Maybe I was on a quest of my own.

“So?” I asked, after we’d been driving through Kentucky for two hours and I couldn’t stand the suspense anymore. Even on the interstate, there were green rolling hills on either side of the car, for as far as the eye could see. It looked like pictures I’d seen of Ireland, but I had no idea that parts of my own country looked like this. It hit me once again just how big America was, and until now, how little of it I’d seen.