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“—on the other hand, think of all the chicks I could
bring back to Maude if you weren’t here?”
    My attempt at lightening the mood worked and
Alex chuckled before sipping his coffee.
    Alex’s lips
twitched once more. “Ass.”
    “ You like my
ass.” What? Where the hell
did that come from?

CHAPTER THREE
July 25th
Aberdeen, South Dakota
    JUNE AND JULY were spent traveling through Iowa, Nebraska, and part of South
Dakota, and it was several hundred miles before our constant
togetherness became a little annoying. Every time we stopped, Alex
insisted on getting receipts and entering the amounts into a spreadsheet so
he could keep an eye on our expenses. If it were up to me, I
would’ve just logged into the joint bank account we’d opened a few
years ago and had a look at the balance if I wanted to see how much
money was left, but Alex wanted to do it his way. As long as we had
enough money to last the year, I didn’t care. I learned pretty
quickly to make sure I kept any receipts, though.
    The last week
of July brought us to Aberdeen, a small
town in South Dakota. Alex had been unusually quiet for most of the
day, and after I parked Maude on Main Street, he grabbed his laptop and
the laundry bag, saying he’d be gone for a few hours. Without
looking back, he bolted across the street and then down the block.
I couldn’t see a laundromat anywhere, but knowing Alex, he knew
where one was. He had taken the spare key to Maude and his phone,
so if I moved the van, I could call him and tell him where she was.
I had lunch by myself in a mom and pop diner, then ambled around
the small town, wondering the whole time where he was. I passed a
laundromat, but there was no sign of him until I rounded the next
street. Alex was across the street, near the entrance to a movie
theater, talking on his phone. He didn’t see me as I watched him
from the opposite corner. His shoulders were hunched, and he looked
a little sad. I wanted to punch whoever he was talking to for
making him look like that. I wondered who it was. The only phone
calls he had had so far were from his parents and
Calvin.
    Alex lifted
his shoulders , then dropped them,
seemingly letting out a large sigh, and ran his free hand over his
head before pocketing his phone. Lifting his face to the sky, he
seemed to be praying for guidance or help before he headed into the
cinema.
    He texted me about three hours later, wanting to
know where I was, and I pondered what movie he’d seen that had
taken that long. I picked him up on South Main Street and asked him
what he’d done all day. He shrugged and said, “Not
much.”
    We drove to
Wylie Park in silence, a campground-cum-family recreation park
northwest of the town, and rented an RV site. We drove past the
entrance to the Wylie Zoo, which housed buffalo, deer, elk, and
llamas. Storybook Land was on our right, complete with castle,
carousel, and other kiddy rides. It was quieter than I expected,
being the middle of summer, but there were some families close by
setting up their tents and getting campfires going. The ballpark
had a few kids playing, and lots of kids were out in the twilight
riding bikes along the paths. I parked Maude next to an elderly
couple sitting on folding chairs by a fire, not too close as to be
in their space but near enough to wave and say hello.
    “ Did you talk
to anyone today?” I asked Alex after we’d started our fire. His
unwillingness to tell me what he’d done annoyed me.
    “ Cal rang
earlier. You?”
    “What did he want?”
    He shrugged. “Nothing, just checking in.”
    Cal often
checked in with Alex, but I could tell he was reluctant to tell me
what they spoke about specifically. I decided to let it go in the
hope he’d open up to me later.
    Alex pulled
the chairs out and set up the table to get ready for dinner while I got the steaks ready for the
grill.
    “ You were
gone all day, what did you do the whole time?” For some reason, I couldn’t let
it go. He was hiding