Page 2 of Every Sunset
“It was though,” I corrected him.
“We’re starting over, right? That’s why we just drove a crazy number of hours, clear across the country, right? We need to put this behind us,” he reminded me, once again sounding so much older than he was.
“Right.” I sat up straighter and took a deep breath. “You’re right. Ignore me. I’m just tired.”
“We both are. How long do we have to go?” he asked.
“About six hours, I think. I worked out we should arrive early tomorrow morning if we don’t stop for too long.”
“Then I’m driving for the next couple of hours. You have to get some sleep,” he told me firmly, just the way I used to tell him it was bedtime when he was little.
“Yeah, okay kid,” I laughed as I patted his knee.
“I’m serious, mom. I know how to drive. Matt’s older brother taught both of us and he let’s us drive his car around the parking lot at school on the weekends.”
“What the hell?” I snapped as I looked to him with shock. “You’re fifteen. You could have crashed and hurt yourself, or someone else.”
“I’m almost sixteen, and I was careful,” he defended himself. “Either you let me do this, or we stay here and you sleep in the car, but we’ll lose time that way, and this doesn’t look like the safest place.”
I looked around us and had to agree. The lot we were parked in along with one other car, was badly lit and the small gas station looked old and worn down. It resembled the kind of place that serial killers grabbed their victims from in horror movies.
“Even if you can drive, if the police stopped us…”
“What police, mom? We’re in the middle of fucking nowhere,” he sighed tiredly.
“Language!” I snapped.
“I think the situation calls for the odd curse word,” he told me and I couldn’t argue with that. “Just let me do this. You’re gonna get into a wreck if you try to keep going. You’re hurt and exhausted. You have to rest or you’re gonna get sick again.”
“Jesus Max, when did you get so grown up?”
“I’m not a kid anymore, mom, and especially not after this. I get that you want to protect me, and you always have, but you don’t need to anymore. I can protect myself now. I can look out for both of us.”
I knew he wanted to reassure me, but those words hurt so fucking much. He thought he needed to protect me. He thought, at fifteen years old, that his childhood was over, all because I had failed him and fucked everything up.
“Fine. You can do a few laps of the gas station and show me how you drive. I can’t believe I’m agreeing to this, but you’re right – I don’t want to stay here and I don’t think I should drive any more right now,” I gave in as I pushed back the guilt consuming me inside.
“Yeah, we’re totally gonna end up tied up in some basement if we stick around here for too long,” Max laughed, but it just made me shudder as memories assaulted me.
“Max,” I whispered.
“Fuck! Sorry mom. I wasn’t thinking.”
“You shouldn’t have to think like that,” I sighed. “Come on, let’s see if this dive has snacks and coffee, then you can show me your mad driving skills.”
CHAPTER 2
ANNA
“No way! Is this it?” Max asked excitedly as I stopped outside the gates of a house that was definitely not the one I rented online. The place before us stood three stories high and colonial in style. It was like a mansion - painted in white with dark gray trim. The driveway behind the iron gates was gravel and the path that led to the house was flanked with randomly placed pots filled with bright flowers.
“’No way’ is right. The place I rented had two bedrooms. I think that has a few more than two bedrooms,” I explained exhaustedly as I grabbed my cell from the cup holder to, once again, check the address that I’d copied down.
“There’s no other houses out here though. Are we in the right town?” Max asked. He was exhausted too. He’d driven for a few hours – very well as it turned out – while I’d tried and failed to sleep. Eventually I’d taken over again until we’d finally arrived…or at least I thought we had.
“I don’t even know. I can barely see straight. The sign we passed said ‘Grand Lake’didn’t it?”
“Sure did,” Max agreed. We were about an hour outside of downtown Chicago, in what looked like a quaint little town that sat beside Lake Michigan, nestled in woodland. It was beautiful,and I had been sure it was the right place as we drove in, but now I was doubting I could afford to live in anywhere this scenic and picturesque.
