Chapter 43

My mother smoked and kept her smart brown eyes on me. “That’s too bad. He really hated this place, didn’t he?”

She was on to me, big time.

“Yeah, he was itching to be on the road.”

“And you?” She crushed her stub in the ashtray by the window. She never smoked her cigarettes all the way down. She looked at me again. “You didn’t wanna go with him?”

I was a little shocked, but kept my face neutral of emotion. “No…I don’t think that would have been a good idea,” was all I said. We looked at each other for a long moment, and then I had to avert my eyes. I felt as though she’d read right through me. “So, how’s Dad?” I asked, changing the subject. “Any luck with that last interview?”