“Leave DB to me. I’m sure he won’t have an issue.”
SIXTEEN
Carter
Going on a road trip with a kid was new territory for me. Because it was a spur-of-the-moment break, I hadn’t been able to look any further into swapping out my truck for an SUV, but DB had assured me my dual cab was spacious and safe enough to have Shanti in it, so that’s what we were using. I’d also wedged pillows against the doors in the back, just in case, and I could swear a turtle had just overtaken us because I was driving that slowly.
“You know, you can go near the speed limit,” Naomi whispered, glancing nervously at the mirror on her side. “I think we’ve got a line of about fifty cars behind us.”
“I don’t care about the people in the cars behind us. I care about the little person in the seat behind us.”
She turned to check on Shanti, smiling at whatever she saw. “She’s strapped in with her belt and has enough padding around her to get lost in. She’s fine.”
It went against every protective instinct I had, but I sped up slightly, appeasing the asshole behind us, who finally stopped pressing his horn and flashing his lights. Dick!
“I swear kids have it easy these days,” I mused, looking into the rearview mirror at Shanti. “I had to play games or sleep when we went on road trips, but all Shanti needed was my iPad.”
“Yeah, people like your aunt made life a heck of a lot easier,” Naomi snickered. “Well, unless the battery dies.”
“There’s a portable charger. It’s in the back with her.”
Concentrating on the road, I listened as Shanti asked Naomi to put on a movie for her. The drive from Piersville to Daphne was taking us nine hours. We’d left at the ass crack of dawn and were making good time, but we still had another four hours minimum to go.
“You sure you don’t want to stop at a hotel and break the journey into two?” Naomi asked as she rooted around in the plastic sack filled with drinks and snacks.
“If you guys want to, we can do that, but it’s not necessary for me. I’ve done this trip enough times to know the route and be okay with driving it in one go. Will Shanti be okay not stopping?”
“She’ll be fine. There’s food, and we can stop for her to go potty. She’s also got your iPad with cartoons and games for entertainment, and has enough pillows stuffed around her for a ten-person harem to sleep comfortably.”
The analogy was amusing and made me smile. That was until I heard a song coming from the iPad, and the words in it sank in.
I like them big, I like them chunky. I like them big, I like them plumpy.
“What the hell is she listening to?” I hissed, taking my eyes off the road briefly to check on the little girl who was still engrossed in the movie.
“It’s from Madagascar,” Naomi explained like it made complete sense. “It’s about a hippo.”
The more of the song I heard, the more it felt like my head was going to explode. “It sounds wrong.”
And then it got worse—Shanti navigated back to the beginning of the song and started singing along with it, wiggling around in her booster seat like she was dancing.
“I love will.i.am,” she squealed, jerking around.
Glancing over at Naomi, I checked to see if she looked as confused and worried as I was, but she was staring out of the windscreen with a grin on her face. “Who’s William?”
Shanti giggled. “Not William, silly. Will.i.am.”
The name was familiar, but the verbal porn coming from what was supposed to be a kid’s song was messing with my brain. “I’m not seeing the difference, except maybe with the pronunciation of the name.”
Taking pity on me, Naomi reached across for my hand. “The singer, will.i.am. He was in the Black Eyed Peas.” Shit, yeah, now I knew who they were talking about. “He sings this song.”
The pressure in my head grew steadily, and then it almost burst when Shanti squealed, “I’m gonna marry him when I’m older.”
Images of the little girl who made me smile as a woman old enough to get married flashed through my brain.
No more movie nights, no more tying up her shoelaces. No more helping her put her shoes on the right feet. No more listening to her trying to teach me how to braid her hair as patiently as she could. No more trying not to laugh when she hid the vegetables on her plate wherever she could…
“I need to stop,” I croaked, feeling a fine layer of sweat building on my face. “I need air.”
Neither female said anything as I indicated at the next service station.
The whole way, all I could hear was:
Chunky, chunky, chunky, chunky.