before and even though we were both taller now and I had a great appreciation for the comforts of a bed, I wasn’t above a little backseat action. The Lexus had a nicely padded back seat with a lot of legroom.
“Get in,” Jake said with a grin that let me know he knew exactly what I’d been thinking about.
“Yes, sir,” I said with a salute.
We hadn’t had the opportunity to go on many drives together since we’d only had our licenses for a few months by the time he was gone. It was a measure of how absorbed our parents were that we’d been able to get away as often as we had. Admittedly, most of the drives had happened late at night when we were supposed to have been sleeping. If they didn’t want us to take the cars, they should have hidden the keys.
Instead of heading for the bluffs east of town, as I’d expected, Jake headed west towards the river and then turned south. After half an hour of silence, I figured I had the right to ask what the plan was. “Can I ask where we’re going?”
Jake looked out the side window if as if he had just noticed the car was moving. “Nowhere. Just driving.”
“Are you running away again?” I asked.
“Maybe,” he confessed. “But at least I'm taking you with me this time.”
“You can’t kidnap me. There are laws against it.”
He took his eyes off the road long enough to sneak a look at me. “How about if you come voluntarily? Then it’s not kidnapping.”
“Hmm, I could be persuaded. But you’re going to have to do a lot more talking. And give me one phone call. If I’d known, I would have packed some clean underwear.”
The two-lane highway followed a line of bluffs, lifting us a few hundred feet over the river. Late afternoon sunlight glinted like diamonds on the water. Expensive-looking sailboats and small fishing dinghies shared the river with paddleboats full of tourists and boats offering sunset dinner cruises. Trees blazing in autumn colors lined the bluffs to either side of us. Flocks of ducks silhouetted against the blue sky called loudly as they headed south. Soon the swans would be migrating back, something I hadn’t been around to see for years. I was looking forward to it.
“I know. I’d forgotten how beautiful it could be around here. Fall is my favorite time of year,” Jake said, inhaling deeply as we drove down the narrow twisting roads. “I love the way the air smells.”
I took a deep breath, too, smelling the dampness of decaying leaves, the fresh cold air, and the mix of his cologne and skin that made me want to bury my nose in the bend where his shoulder met his neck. When we’d been together that summer, we’d both mostly smelled of Axe body spray. This was much nicer.
Back when my years had been measured from September to June instead of January to December, my life in La Crosse had had a rhythm to it. Starting with the first day of school. Fall was always a beginning. New school year, new hockey season. School shopping or training camp.
This year, I had neither to look forward to. Summer had melted into fall almost without me noticing. And now, here with Jake, it felt like an ending.
Ride in silence a little longer. I needed him to either talk or turn around. I couldn’t sit on the information Ryan had given me for much longer, my impatience would win out. I wanted to give him a fair chance to tell me himself.
Looking for something to get his attention that might break through his brooding, I dug through the glove compartment for the user’s manual. I gave a whistle at the two-inch-thick booklet. “Damn, there are ten pages on the seats alone.” Feeling around the edges of my seat, I started pushing buttons. “Ooh, massage? Are you kidding me?” I pressed a few more buttons, sighing when the leather heated up and the rollers started kneading my lower back. “Oh, man. This is the life.”
Jake didn’t react. He just stared out the windshield, one finger tapping on the steering wheel.
“Did you know the backseats recline and have footrests? And massage? Nice.”
Still no reaction. I was going to have to up my game. I studied the instructions for the high-tech entertainment unit and the channel guide for the XM radio. “Mind if I turn the radio on?” I asked, reaching for the controls without waiting