Oh Alice!

Chapter 2

Alice leaned her head against the head rest as Luke pulled out of the driveway, obviously lost in thought; he was watching her out of the corner of his eye as he headed across town to the gas station. Leslie is right, he thought as he turned the radio on to the local radio station, I need to tell her or at least talk to her. He pulled in and had barely shut the black soft top jeep off when Alice jumped out and headed for the building. He knew calling after her was pointless, so he got out and started filling the jeep with gas. He let his mind wander to the first time they took his jeep into the mountains to play in the mud and got so stuck they had to stay the night and sleep in the jeep. The nozzle clicked, indicating the tank was full, so he hung it up and was about to go inside to pay when Alice appeared behind him with a plastic bag in hand.

"I already paid. Let's get going! I'm ready to get lost in the mountains and just forget about today." She hopped in, leaving Luke slightly confused outside. He gathered his thought and hopped in, Alice had already started the jeep and was playing music from her phone using the AUX cord. It was country, her new favorite song he couldn't remember the name of or who sings it, but he didn't mind seeing her smile and sing along. They hit Anderson Road and followed it up the side of Parish Ridge, singing along to Alice's music for about an hour. The road was starting to get rougher as they went, Luke expertly avoided the big rocks to try to make the ride smoother, when they suddenly hit a rock, causing the jeep to jolt and the glove box to spring open and spill its contents onto Alice's feet.

"Well looks like you may have to get a new latch for the glove box." She laughed as she started putting things back, papers and gloves, but a small black box made her stop. "Luke, what's this?" She held up they box and shook it, something rattling inside. Luke glanced sideways and stopped the jeep abruptly. He reached to snatch the box out of her hand, but she pulled back too fast.

"Umm... It's a gift for my sister. She always finds them when I hide them at my house, so I've been hiding it here." Shit, he thought looking away, she wasn't supposed to find that.

"Your terrible at lying, you know that? But fine whatever." She tossed it back in the glove box and slammed it shut. She turned to look out the window, crossing her arms as it started to rain. Angry at him or not she loved the rain and he could see a small smile creep across her face. I hate when she's mad at me, he sighed and started driving again. Alice turned the music up as a new song started, this one he knew, Rumor by Lee Brice. It was one he loved because it made him think of her, but right now he didn't want to listen to it. But she did, and she was singing along. He thought he caught her looking at him as she sang, but he knew it was just his imagination, so he started singing along too.

After an hour of puddles and a side road, they ended up at the Birchwood Outpost, which really was a scenic look-out on the edge of the ridge, overlooking the Basin County valley floor. It was built in the '70s, made to look like a wood cabin with the wall facing the valley removed, to create a picnic patio for barbecues. It had 2 barbecues and 2 wood picnic tables, and wood railing that looked like branches off a tree. The VFW would do a fundraiser every spring and go do maintenance on it once the snow melted. Luke pulled into a parking spot and shut the jeep off, they sat silently for a few minutes. He opened his mouth to speak when Alice's phone started to ring. She answered without looking at the name.

"Hello, this is Alice Brooks." When the caller answered, Alice's face went white. She looked at him, scared and he mouthed the words SPEAKER and she put the call on speaker, so he could hear too.

"...saw you leaving town with LT. Why would you be doing that honey?" Luke knew exactly who it was and opened his mouth to speak when Alice put her finger up to his mouth.