lights were out did Madison remember that she had never gotten around to telling Blake about her new disease. It didn’t matter now.
2
“There’s construction work on most of the I-90,” Blake said. Madison was packing her bag when he walked into the room. He’d been planning their route online. “It’s going to be a twenty-six hour trip.”
“No way around it?” Madison clipped her suitcase shut and hauled it to the door. Blake watched her without offering to help.
“Most of them have construction zones and the rest will take far too long. It’s the quickest, but we’ll have to overnight somewhere.”
“We can do that, I’m okay to stay over.”
Blake nodded and walked out of the room again. Madison searched for something, a spark of a feeling, but she was sufficiently numb. It was amazing how business-like Blake was about it. How they made the arrangements like clockwork.
They loaded their bags into Blake’s car, and he slammed the boot shut. He climbed in behind the wheel. Madison had a cooler bag at her feet with snacks for the road. The neighborhood was quiet, most people taking Saturdays to sleep in and relax. Usually the roads were busy by now.
“We’ll drive to Chicago and stay there. I’ve booked a room. Then we’ll do the final stretch tomorrow, and get there tomorrow night. The kids are expecting us, we can stay with Lash for the night and make the trip back on Monday. That should have us both back in the office by Wednesday.”
Blake started the car and pulled out. He switched on the radio and tuned into a station they both liked. It made it easier, they wouldn’t have to talk.
After two hours of driving Blake pulled over at the side of the road, and they ate sandwiches for breakfast. The road was quiet, and they didn’t talk much. They silence between them was as it always was, not really awkward, but not exactly companionable, either.
A breeze picked up and whipped the wax paper Madison’s sandwich had been wrapped in, into the field adjacent.
“Great,” she said and got up.
“Just leave it,” Blake answered. But Madison wanted to go get it. She told herself it was because she didn’t want to litter. But she just needed to get away from Blake for a while. They hadn’t spent this much time together, awake, in years and she felt like she needed to get away.
She stepped through the long grass, finally seeing the paper she was chasing. Something hard and sharp stuck up the leg of her jeans and ripped at her skin. A sharp pain shot up her leg and she cried out.
She rolled up her pants and inspected her leg. A long scratch ran from h her ankle half-way up her calf, and it was bleeding. It didn’t look very deep, but it would need attention.
She made her way back to Blake. He was very calm about it, almost clinical, with no emotion. He took out the medical kit and helped her bandage it up.
In no time they were back on the road. The rest of the trip was quiet, slightly strained but not so much that it was unbearable. Madison’s leg throbbed, and the bandage had a red blood-stained line down the front, but she ignored it. The scenery changed into a blur, and she dozed off for a while.
The trip was draining. Madison hated long drives, and with her fear of flying that was all she ever did when they traveled.
“I can’t believe these damn roads,” Blake said. He was grumpy with the trip. He hated it more than she did, and without a fear of flying he thought she was ridiculous.
“We’ll get through this,” she said in a steady voice. There was no point talking to him when he was like this. He swore under his breath when they joined a long queue of cars that waited to be let through the one open lane a handful at a time.
By the time they finally reached Chicago it was dark and neither of them had really eaten. Madison felt light-headed. As a rule she ate every two-to-three hours.
“If we don’t get something to eat soon I’m sure I’m going to disappear,” she