"Excuse me," I say grasping the man's hand. "What road is this?"
"Sprangler?" He tips his sunglass lower to look at me and I pull him to the trunk of his car.
"Not this one," I giggle. "That one." I use his hand, that's still in mine, to gesture to the street running perpendicular to Sprangler.
"Oh," he smiles. "That's Warren Drive." He gives me a look like he just told me the secret to life and I should be eternally grateful.
I glance over my shoulder to make sure the coast is clear then drop his hand.
"Thanks." I head back to my car, parked on the opposite side of his pump.
"Wait," he says snatching my hand back. "Where are you headed?" His dull, lifeless eyes linger on my chest after traveling up from my ass.
"See my parole officer." I pull my arm back to make it my own again, like I've done it a thousand times. Because I have done it a thousand times. He doesn't put up a fight.
"What'd you do, a sweetheart like you?"
"Murdered some random gas station guy."
Without waiting for another world class response from Mr. Unimpressive I climb into the passenger seat of my car.
"Drive."
"Perry, why would a murderer be out on parole? And why would you need to know how to get to the office? Shouldn't you know the way?" Dad asks as he pulls away from the pump.
I give him a look out of the corner of my eye. "It's too damn hot to have the windows down. Put the AC on."
Dad ignores me to continue on his rant. "The gas and go is the oldest trick in the book. Why do you have to go off script?"
"Really? The oldest trick in the book is using someone else's credit card at the gas station." I crank the AC to a frigid setting despite Dad's refusal to put his window up.
"What if I went off script? What if instead of just quickly sliding his credit card into our pump while you distract him I decided to head into the store and get some candy? Then what?"
"Then I'd have candy to eat right now." I flipped down the visor to check my lip gloss. Flawless of course.
"Perry." My name sounds like a threat more often than not when it comes from his mouth. "How do you plan to survive without me if you can't work a simple con?"
I reach over to tap the gas gauge on our newly acquired luxury car. "The tank is full, isn't it? How did I fail you?"
He bats me away like I'm messing up his driving. "You can't rely on your looks so much. It's not safe."
I shrugged then tugged the hem of my red, bodycon dress down. "I can take care of myself."
He finally puts his window up and the cool air quickly overtakes the hot. "That's the problem. You think you're invincible."
A scoff that's only going to make him mad escapes before I think better of it. "All twenty two-year-olds think they're invincible. If you don't, they won't let you be one."
"That's another thing," he says wagging his finger, "you think you're so funny."
"You're surprisingly uptight for a guy who lets his only daughter flirt for free gas."
"Well," he mumbles. "That's just good sense."
"Sure, Dad. Sure."
If this was how it was going to be after every gas and go on the way to Vegas it was going to be one long, frustrating road trip.
