Holly kept it right at sixty, making sure they didn’t go one mile over the limit. Ladarius said the law would be onto them soon, and on the next stop, they’d need to change out the license plates. Maybe even find a new car. That’s the only thing that gave Holly a little pause. A new car. Just what would she do with Momma’s minivan? Her family had had this damn thing for as long as Holly could remember. The headrests still had tiny TV screens in them where she’d watched her cartoons and Disney movies, feeling so safe in the child’s seat, riding up high around Tibbehah and on long trips to her grandmother’s over in Lee County, Alabama.

“Where are we?”

She looked into the rearview, the sun glowing a bright white behind them. It was John Wesley.

“We’re in Arkansas.”

“Where we headed?”

“I don’t know.”

“Why’d we leave Jericho?” John Wesley said. “My sister won’t tell me nothin’.”

“Just taking a road trip, kid,” Holly said, trying to keep her tone nice and light. “You ever been this far from home?”

“Nope.”

“Well, you’re gonna see some pretty country out here,” she said. “Folks in Arkansas don’t cut down every tree they see. They got lakes and forests, beautiful green hills. You’re gonna like this a hell of a lot.”

That seemed to satisfy the boy for a bit. And Holly peeked a quick glance over at TJ, still fierce as hell in her sleep. A little blonde hair caught in that perfect mouth of hers. Holly reached over and pulled it away, her hand brushing TJ’s, feeling a funny pang in her stomach, as she caught the wheel again, driving west with no real plan of what the next day, the next few hours, might hold.

“Momma’s gonna be mad,” John Wesley said.

The kid wide-ass awake now, sitting up and peering over the bench seats where Ladarius was laid out.

“No, she won’t.”

“Hell yes, she will,” John Wesley said. “Momma said if TJ did anything else bad, she was gonna send her up north to some Bible school. She said TJ got to be a mess because she skipped out on church too many times to fool around with boys.”

Holly laughed and shook her head. Although she couldn’t argue with what he said.

“It’s gonna be just fine,” Holly said. “Don’t you worry about nothing, John Wesley. You hungry? I got an extra chicken biscuit up here. And half a Coke.”