Joy smiled. “I’m good. Made it to Flagstaff.”
“Joel! Pick up the phone. It’s Joy,” her mom shouted. Joy’s eardrum throbbed.
“How’s my favorite girl?” her dad asked when he got on the line.
“A little tired.” Joy shifted the phone to her other ear. She never liked that endearment. They didn’t have a favorite before Judy had died.
“No more driving today. Get some sleep.”
“I won’t, and I will.” Joy lifted her gaze to the stained-glass chandelier above her table. She was twenty-two and her dad still treated her like she was sixteen. But that was fine with her. It meant that they still loved her.
“How was your first day on the road?” her mom asked.
“Uneventful.” The lie came surprisingly easily. Then again, she’d been lying to her parents for years.
“Is it hot?”
“Very.”
“How’s the car?” her dad asked.
“Good.” As it should be. It was brand-new. Nobody in their family drove old jalopies. Not anymore.
“Where are you staying tonight?”
Joy didn’t know. Despite her parents’ and Mark’s objections, she hadn’t made hotel reservations. Spontaneity gave her hives, but she wanted some flexibility on her trip. If a side trip took longer than expected or she stayed in a town longer than planned to explore, she didn’t want to be locked into a reservation.
Joy looked out the window. A block down from the bar was a motel with a bright pink neon VACANCY sign.
“I’m staying at the Howard Johnson,” she announced, then gave them the address so that her parents could find it on Google Maps.
Joy’s food arrived and she wished them a good night. As she ate, her gaze kept drifting to the bar. Some people left, more went inside. She didn’t know what she hoped to see, maybe Dylan coming outside for a breath of fresh air.
She still couldn’t believe she’d spent the afternoon with him. She also hadn’t had that much fun on a road trip before. Mark always made phone calls and she’d read a book, listening to her music through earbuds, whenever they went on a long drive. They had a comfortable companionship. But Dylan’s music appreciation rivaled her own. He also had her pegged before they’d left the parking lot. No one had seen through her that easily before. It left her feeling uneasy and more curious about him. How had he figured her out so quickly?
Yes, she dressed like her sister and she listened to her favorite music. Joy wanted to experience the trip the way she imagined Judy would have.
The first time she’d glimpsed Judy’s Route 66 Bucket List had been the day after Judy’s high school graduation, the day of Kent Dulcott’s graduation party. Judy’s last day on earth.
Joy had wandered into Judy’s bedroom, a room that looked like a jukebox had exploded and spewed everything circa 1950s. B-movie posters and Hollywood heartthrob pinups from a bygone era plastered the walls. Lipsticks in vintage shades of Coral Sunrise and Vivid Crimson filled the drawers. Retro clothing stuffed the closet. Judy even had a teal rotary phone and portable record player, the kind that looked like a suitcase.
Joy didn’t get Judy’s obsession with the era, but it all started three years previous when Judy binge-watched a Happy Days marathon on Nick at Night. Out went her canopy bed and trendy outfits and in came the secondhand vintage clothes and garage sale finds. Come to think of it, Todd came into the picture around then, too, and he reminded Joy an awful lot of Richie Cunningham. Perfect teeth, clean cut, and super nice. Cool, but boring, and not Joy’s type. Whatever guy Joy fell for had better love music and boards and adventure.
Her sister wasn’t in her room, but she’d left her hatbox of lists on her bed, the lid off. The question Joy had come to ask Judy disappeared. Poof! Gone. Joy’s fingers tingled. Judy rarely spent time with her anymore. She was too busy with school and friends and sucking face with Todd. But that hatbox loaded with Judy’s dreams and aspirations, life goals and bucket lists she didn’t share with anyone beckoned. She tiptoed into the room and plucked the first list she saw: My Life Goals. Number one, Joy read, Pledge a sorority at UCLA.
Joy dramatically rolled her eyes. Booooring. But she read on.
Graduate with a degree in chemical engineering. Get a job at Vintage Chic Cosmetics. Marry Todd.
Todd? Gag me. She mimed thrusting a finger down her throat. How could Judy be thinking of marriage already?
Launch my own line of lipstick.
That was cool. Joy wanted to make and sell her own natural soaps and lotions.
The front door slammed and the list flew out of Joy’s hand. It fluttered back into the box. A perfect landing.
Judy marched up the hallway. Her heels clacked on hardwood. She was coming fast. Joy eyed the partially closed door, panicked. Ditch the room or hide?
Neither.
Judy would see her if she ran, and hiding was stupid.
She launched herself onto the bed, kicked off her Converse, and popped in her earbuds. She cranked up some Weezer.
The bedroom door swung open. Judy’s gaze did a baseball bat swing from the open hatbox to Joy casually resting on her bed. She thrust a finger down the hall. “Get out.”
“Uh-uh.” Joy crossed her ankles and slid her hands behind her head.
“Did you read my stuff?”
Joy removed one earbud. “No.”
Judy narrowed her eyes.
“Honest, swear.”
Judy grasped Joy’s ankles and hauled her down the bed. Joy shrieked. She gripped the quilted bedspread. “I didn’t read your stuff!”
Judy stared her down for the longest five seconds in the history of time. Joy fidgeted with her iPod, an eighth-grade graduation gift from their parents. Judy wrinkled her nose. “What’s that smell? Is that your feet?”
They didn’t smell. Joy drew her knees up and wiggled her toes inside her sweaty socks. She scrunched her nose. Maybe they did.
“Get your icky feet off my bed.”
“Fine, but I’m not leaving.” She’d never admit it openly, but she liked hanging out with Judy, and her sister would be moving out soon. She started college in two months and Joy wasn’t looking forward to her leaving. The house was going to be too quiet.
“Suit yourself, but I have to get ready for Kent’s party.” Judy closed her bedroom door.
The party. Joy smacked her forehead. That was why she’d come looking for Judy. Kent, a guy in Judy’s graduating class, was hosting a graduation party at his parents’ cabin on Lake Arrowhead, a forty-minute drive from their house in San Bernardino, and Joy needed a ride. Kent’s younger brother Kevin would be there, and Joy had been crushing on Kevin since they were in the same fifth-grade classroom. Her best friend, Taryn, had a cabin down the street. She and her parents were spending the weekend there, and Joy had told Taryn earlier that she’d get a ride up with Judy and they could hang. Taryn had promised to invite Kevin over.
Judy slipped a vinyl from the cardboard sleeve and balanced the record on the turntable. Nat King Cole crooned “The More I See You” and Joy groaned.
“Your music is torture.” She hugged Judy’s pillow to her ears.
“Door’s over there.” Judy pointed. She changed out of her Bermuda shorts and into skinny jeans cuffed at the ankle and a white button-down blouse with a baby-doll collar.