Page 35 of Raff
Her hair, for once, was not slicked back or put into a protective style but left natural around her shoulders in dense, springy ringlets.
“Why the fuck have you been doing the slick-back when you could be looking like this?”
Her smile was soft at that.
“This takes more effort and time than I have a lot of days. The protective styles make getting ready easier. Without those, the slicked-back bun is really the only logical option most days. But I had a little time today,” she said.
“Well fucking worth it,” I said, reaching to grab her bag. “Now, let’s go secure some pancakes before we hit the road.”
For most of the first leg of the trip, Lula was quiet company, only occasionally pointing out animals or singing along with the radio as she sat with her laptop on her thighs, working away at the books for The Bog.
Still, somehow, it was better than the last few trips I’d made alone.
I knew she’d liked the first place we’d stayed, but I had big plans for her when we hit Tucson.
Luxury hotel room. Room service. A massive pool. A full spa package. That I had already paid for so she couldn’t refuse it without costing me money for no reason.
The whole trip was full of luxury. With little side quests to check out some fun local attractions or great restaurants along the way.
I knew this was, for all intents and purposes, a work-type trip for the both of us. But there was no reason it couldn’t feel more like a vacation. Especially for a woman who’d been busting her ass since she was a literal child, whose previous idea of avacation was likely taking a trip two towns over to get the ‘good’ coffee.
With a sigh, Lula closed her laptop lid.
“Everything is starting to swim,” she admitted, looking over at me. “Turtle,” she said, nodding out my window.
“That, my dear sweet girl, would be a tortoise, since there isn’t any water around here.”
“How are you so up on your wildlife?”
“Used to look ‘em all up when Riff was the one driving. Got good at knowing which animals lived where.”
“Okay. So, we’re in Arizona. What’s here? Aside from tortoises?”
“Rattlesnakes.” A full-body shiver moved through Lula at that. “Not a snake fan, huh?”
“They’re fine. When they’re behind a wall of glass with a locked lid. And, you know, not in the same vicinity as me.”
“Well, for the less slithery, there are desert bighorn sheep, bison, coyotes, black bears, mountain lions, jaguars…”
“What? Mountain lions and jaguars?”
“I mean, we’re not likely to see them. But they’re… around.”
“Well, we’ll be stayingindoorsin Arizona, I guess. Next is Texas, right? Anything that is going to give me nightmares there?”
“Diamondback and coral snakes. Maybe a salamander or tarantula. But the armadillos are cute and everywhere, which makes up for the creepy crawlers.”
“My brother had one of those.”
“One of what?”
“ThoseCreepy Crawlersoven things? With the plastic goop you put in molds and baked. He used to make all kinds of bugs and set them around the house to freak me out.”
“Wouldn’t he have been a little young for those?”
“My grandmother found it secondhand at a thrift store. He went nuts with it.”
“What about you? What was your favorite toy?” She shot me a look. “Oh, come on. You had to have had toys.”
