replaiting the tail of her braid. “I was just going to mention that Maya told me she got a Christmas card from Theresa just last year. She’s living on a farm.”
“Theresa is feeding chickens?” Jenna rustled in the backseat, kicking off her sneakers. “Our Tess, with the purple hair and the nose ring?”
“People change.” Claire clutched the Jesus strap as Nicole poked the nose of the car onto the country road. “And you’d have acted out, too, Jenna, if you lived like she did in one of those houses by the old cannery.”
“Saint Claire.” Nicole shook her head. “What a soft touch you are. You called her, I suppose.”
“You’d have killed me if I hadn’t.”
The car rumbled onto the gravel-scattered road. “One long detour just wasn’t enough for you, was it?”
“Unfortunately, nobody answered the phone at Theresa’s house. Maya did give me her address, though.”
“Good. Then you can write to her. Maybe on the way back—”
“Nicole, you’re a jet streaking across the sky, and I’m a bee seeking flowers.”
“I’ll get there faster.”
“But twenty bucks says I’ll have a much better time. Aren’t you curious as to where she lives?”
Nicole accelerated as they approached the on-ramp for Interstate 90. “I suspect it isn’t Chicago, which is where I want to go. And I know it’s a long way from here, or you wouldn’t be tiptoeing around the subject.”
“You’re so busy running here and there that you’ve forgotten that the goal of life is learning.”
“Wow, for a moment there you actually sound like a Buddhist.”
“And Buddhists teach that we only progress in life when we open up our attention to the universe. I didn’t go looking for Theresa—Maya mentioned her. Now, all day, she’s been prancing in my head.”
“There’s an image.”
“It’s Karmic. We have to take action.”
Nicole glanced in the rearview mirror. “Jenna, you’re awfully quiet. Do you want to visit Theresa?”
“Theresa scared the hell out of me.”
Nicole gave Claire a nudge. “You’re outvoted.”
“But then again,” Jenna added, “any side trip that takes me farther from my cheating husband is a positive thing.”
Claire raised a slow eyebrow. “Well, Nic, aren’t you the least bit curious as to what happened to that wild girl we all once knew?”
Nicole was curious, yes, but not about Theresa. Nicole hardly knew the girl except by reputation. Claire had hung out with Theresa in middle school before the girl started breaking into hardware stores and setting garbage bins on fire. Three-Tat Tess had been suspended from school too many times for Nicole to remember. But Claire tended to keep her hooks in people, especially the broken ones.
Nicole’s curiosity ran on a completely different track. “You know,” she said, “when most people take a cross-c ountry trip, they tend to map out their journey depending on the landmarks or the tourist attractions.”
“I’ve always had a deep suspicion of ‘most people.’” Claire slipped her bare feet up against the glove compartment. “They tend to be a downright boring bunch.”
“Just imagine everything we’ve passed by,” Nicole said. “We could have made a detour to Yellowstone, or the Grand Teton National Park. We didn’t see Devils Tower or the Crazy Horse Memorial. We hardly explored the Badlands, and back by Maya’s dig, we couldn’t have been more than a few dozen miles from Mount Rushmore—”
“Tourist trap.”
“Instead, Claire, you’ve got us on some kind of Pine Lakes cross-country magical mystery tour.”
“I haven’t the faintest idea what you’re talking about.”
Nicole raised a hand to count them off. “Jin, Sydney, Maya, Theresa. Even me.”
“Intelligent company.”
“And free beds.”
Claire gave her an all-knowing look. “Whatever you’re looking for in Pine Lake, Nic, it’ll still be there if we arrive just a few days later.”
Nicole flexed her fingers over the
“Theresa is feeding chickens?” Jenna rustled in the backseat, kicking off her sneakers. “Our Tess, with the purple hair and the nose ring?”
“People change.” Claire clutched the Jesus strap as Nicole poked the nose of the car onto the country road. “And you’d have acted out, too, Jenna, if you lived like she did in one of those houses by the old cannery.”
“Saint Claire.” Nicole shook her head. “What a soft touch you are. You called her, I suppose.”
“You’d have killed me if I hadn’t.”
The car rumbled onto the gravel-scattered road. “One long detour just wasn’t enough for you, was it?”
“Unfortunately, nobody answered the phone at Theresa’s house. Maya did give me her address, though.”
“Good. Then you can write to her. Maybe on the way back—”
“Nicole, you’re a jet streaking across the sky, and I’m a bee seeking flowers.”
“I’ll get there faster.”
“But twenty bucks says I’ll have a much better time. Aren’t you curious as to where she lives?”
Nicole accelerated as they approached the on-ramp for Interstate 90. “I suspect it isn’t Chicago, which is where I want to go. And I know it’s a long way from here, or you wouldn’t be tiptoeing around the subject.”
“You’re so busy running here and there that you’ve forgotten that the goal of life is learning.”
“Wow, for a moment there you actually sound like a Buddhist.”
“And Buddhists teach that we only progress in life when we open up our attention to the universe. I didn’t go looking for Theresa—Maya mentioned her. Now, all day, she’s been prancing in my head.”
“There’s an image.”
“It’s Karmic. We have to take action.”
Nicole glanced in the rearview mirror. “Jenna, you’re awfully quiet. Do you want to visit Theresa?”
“Theresa scared the hell out of me.”
Nicole gave Claire a nudge. “You’re outvoted.”
“But then again,” Jenna added, “any side trip that takes me farther from my cheating husband is a positive thing.”
Claire raised a slow eyebrow. “Well, Nic, aren’t you the least bit curious as to what happened to that wild girl we all once knew?”
Nicole was curious, yes, but not about Theresa. Nicole hardly knew the girl except by reputation. Claire had hung out with Theresa in middle school before the girl started breaking into hardware stores and setting garbage bins on fire. Three-Tat Tess had been suspended from school too many times for Nicole to remember. But Claire tended to keep her hooks in people, especially the broken ones.
Nicole’s curiosity ran on a completely different track. “You know,” she said, “when most people take a cross-c ountry trip, they tend to map out their journey depending on the landmarks or the tourist attractions.”
“I’ve always had a deep suspicion of ‘most people.’” Claire slipped her bare feet up against the glove compartment. “They tend to be a downright boring bunch.”
“Just imagine everything we’ve passed by,” Nicole said. “We could have made a detour to Yellowstone, or the Grand Teton National Park. We didn’t see Devils Tower or the Crazy Horse Memorial. We hardly explored the Badlands, and back by Maya’s dig, we couldn’t have been more than a few dozen miles from Mount Rushmore—”
“Tourist trap.”
“Instead, Claire, you’ve got us on some kind of Pine Lakes cross-country magical mystery tour.”
“I haven’t the faintest idea what you’re talking about.”
Nicole raised a hand to count them off. “Jin, Sydney, Maya, Theresa. Even me.”
“Intelligent company.”
“And free beds.”
Claire gave her an all-knowing look. “Whatever you’re looking for in Pine Lake, Nic, it’ll still be there if we arrive just a few days later.”
Nicole flexed her fingers over the
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