Chapter 123

Ace

"You ever been down to the Gulf before the last time we tried to go?" I break the silence that's encompassed us since we left Laurel Springs an hour ago.

You give Violet and me a series on Netflix, a pizza, and a beer, we can talk all night. Apparently, you put us in my truck on a road trip and it's fucking crickets.

"No, this is as far south as I've ever lived, and I've never visited the beach or ocean before."

This is the first I've heard about this being as far south as she's ever lived. We've never talked about things like this. I take the plunge and ask the question. "Where are you from, Violet?"

The windows are down, and within the first thirty minutes she'd pulled her dark hair into a braid. Now she's holding back escaped tendrils with her palm. "Oklahoma," she answers above the whipping of the wind.

"How did you end up in Alabama?"

This drive has loosened my lips and I'm asking all the questions I always wondered about. There's a good chance she won't answe