Country Love

Freedom. That was the one word that kept repeating inside of Isabelle Warren's mind as she went down the highway in her worn out Cavalier. Dirty sippy cups kept crunching against the empty bags of chips littering the floorboards.

Isabelle was thankful for the cheap sunglasses she had picked up at the last gas station as she looked at the sunset she was driving toward. She looked down at the gas hand and saw that again it was dipping close to E. She sighed and looked back at her three year old daughter who was currently sound asleep in her booster seat.

Isabelle knew it was probably wrong of her to feel so happy about her newfound freedom. But her drunken husband of five years was dead and buried, her controlling in-laws were becoming a distant memory and she and her daughter were going to build themselves a new life out here with the money she'd gotten for selling their house back in Indiana.

Isabelle pulled off at a little exit boasting that it had gas and food. She looked around and saw that this town could barely be considered a town and only had one tiny gas station and a set of stoplights. She pulled into the tiny gas station that only had two pumps and stepped out of her car.

She filled the car up and then pulled Sara from her booster seat. Sara wiped her eyes sleepily.

"Are we there yet, mama?" she asked. Isabelle sighed. They had spent days in this car and her little Sara had been a trooper but the trip was starting to wear on both of them.

"We'll have to drive just a little farther." Isabelle replied. "This town doesn't have a motel we can stay at."

"Where are we going to get a new house, mama?" Sara asked. Isabelle just shrugged.

"We'll know when we get there." she replied as they walked hand in hand into the gas station. Isabelle looked around and saw that this looked more like a tiny country store than it did a modern gas station and she liked the quant, charming atmosphere inside.

"Go pick out a snack." she said to Sara who quickly ran over to the rack of colorful bags of potato chips. Isabelle vowed that once they got settled she would make sure Sara ate one million bananas and apples to make up for all the junk food.

Isabelle grabbed herself a diet cola and a bag of pretzels and sat them on the counter in front of the sleepy clerk. The old man stood up and smiled as Sara came running over, her blond pigtails swinging, and threw a bag of chips and a juice up on the counter.

"You're a pretty little thing." he said to Sara as he rang up their purchase. Sara smiled.

"I know." she said. "My mommy says I'm a princess." The clerk looked at Isabelle as she pulled some money from her purse to pay for the gas and food.

"I haven't seen y'all around here before." he said with a warm smile. Isabelle smiled back as she shook her head.

"No we're passing through on our way from Indiana." she replied. Sara yawned.

"Mommy, I'm sleepy. Can we please go to bed soon." she asked. Isabelle looked down at her as she pocketed the change the clerk handed her.

"We have to find a hotel first, baby doll, and then I promise we'll go to bed."

"Ma'am, there's a place not too far from here that y'all could stop at." the clerk said. "You just drive down to those red lights down the road and turn right. The road will look pretty empty for a couple of miles but then you'll start coming into another little town and they got a bit more to offer over there. There's even a small motel with an indoor pool." he added grinning down at Sara.

"Oh, mommy, can we go please!" Sara asked grabbing Isabelle's hand and bouncing up and down in her excitement. "I wanna go swimming." Isabelle nodded as she gathered up their things in her arms. She knew her poor daughter needed a chance to burn off some of her energy. And she really didn't feel like getting back on the interstate tonight.