It started as a terrible morning with Lena throwing up in the middle of the hallway. It escalated with Dad putting his foot down to Danny that he was going to be the one driving or they would have to tie him to the roof of the SUV. He did not appreciate Danny grabbing a bungee cord out of the garage and stretching it in his hands.
Garrett arrived at five thirty and Dad told him we were running behind. Garrett only nodded as I opened the door and placed my purse and a bag behind the passenger seat.
“Dad, please explain this route we’re taking,” Danny asked as he pointed at a page in Dad’s massively over-folded atlas. “Why are we going up and into Missouri? It’s faster if we take highway 51 to Memphis.”
“Not going to Memphis,” Dad muttered, and Danny rolled his eyes.
“Aw, c’mon, Dad, that place has been closed for, what, twenty-five years? Give or take a million?”
“It’s the memories, son.”
“Memories of what, dear?” Mom asked as she walked out the front door with two suitcases.
“Memories of Christmas, darling. We’re going to make some new ones.”
“Yeah, let me get my camera,” Danny replied as he walked back to the house.
“What happened in Memphis?” Garrett whispered.
“I’ll tell you once we’re on the road.”
Garrett nodded as Lena stepped out of the house with Danny following behind her holding three suitcases, an overnight bag, and a backpack. I’m sure he was just preparing for a future of carrying a diaper bag, backpack, a highchair, and a crib. All in one trip of course.

Garrett met up with Dad and they went over where our final destination would and the locations we would stop along with the way for lunch.
“I’ll try to keep with you, sir,” Garrett replied.
“Okay, first stop is a quick bite to eat.”
“Please don’t say ‘Cracker Barrel. Please don’t say Cracker Barrel,” I screamed in my head.
“Cracker Barrel would take too long. McDonald’s it is,” he replied as he closed his atlas and bot into the front seat and closed the door.
“Please let us ride with you,” Danny pleaded. I shook my head behind Garrett’s back.
“Uhh, not sure we have room, but if you want to…”
“It’s okay. I could do with a few hours of rest. You planning to go through Memphis?”
“Yeah, it’s faster,” Garett shrugged.
“Exactly! Danny shouted as he walked back to the front door of the house to lock it.

We met at the McDonalds for a quick bite to eat but I admit I refused to eat anything but two bites of a hash brown and some coffee, Garett had less as he only went for the coffee. I knew everyone who worked the early shift at that location, and I didn’t want to go over my life story about why I was still in town. We decided to stop somewhere else along the way. Lena wasn’t able to keep her breakfast down and had to resort to just a cup of water.
“It’s just the grease. Still not used to it,” Lena said as she hobbled back to the car and flung her head back against the headrest. Danny looked at me with a thousand yard stare before Dad closed the door.
“We’re going to stop in Texarkana for lunch. Give me a call if you need to stop beforehand,” Dad said as he closed the door and started the engine.
“He’s still taking the long way?” I asked.

“He was adamant in it, but he did wish me luck driving in ‘that city’. Exactly what is the problem with Memphis?”
“No idea,” I lied as I shook my head. I’d let Adam, Dad or Danny say something first. “I guess he got robbed or something.”
“Swell, I’ll make sure we stop in the suburbs.”

The trip consisted of us going back and forth on inane subjects while going up and down the radio frequencies to find something we could both tolerate. I eventually pulled rank and turned the radio of again so we could try to sing a few Christmas carols. That lasted a good five minutes before we couldn’t remember the tune to a lot of them.

“Nikki, I'm afraid I've been thinking.”
“A dangerous pastime”
“I know.”
“What have been thinking?”
“You know that Texas allows for us be married without all the crazy documentation up front.”
“But we live in Tennessee.”
“For now, let’s say we find a place down here that doesn’t cost over a thousand a month.”
“That would be cool, except for…”
“Except for work?”
“I’d be leaving my family behind.”
“I think they want you to get out into world.”

I wanted to think how grand that would be to pack things up and move somewhere else but my overwhelming fear of the unknown would kick in whenever I thought about going anywhere else but the house I grew up in. I’d also think about how my older brother’s attitude would ruin things,

“I still think Adam wants me to stay at home, where I’ll be less noticeable.”
“But he was so supportive of you at my grandfather’s party,” Garrett replied as he raised an eyebrow.
“Adam is able to show the face of a lamb and be a helpful person but get him in private or when it really, air quotes, ‘matters’, then he’s stabbing you in the back for the good of the many.”
“Yet he invited us all to come down for Christmas?”
“It will be all fun, right?”
“Loads,” Garrett said as looked at me with a smile.
“Hey, you knew what you were—”
“Getting into, yes. The Armitage family is just full of surprises.”
“We are,” I replied as I looked out the window. “You mean it, Garrett? I mean, moving?”
“Sure. It’ll be a little tough for the first few months until we can find work and still go to school.”
“I’ll just work for now and maybe later on I’ll go back to sitting in a soul-sucking institution of higher learning.”
“You get to pay for it this time.”
“Even better. Okay, to add to my wish list of things, I want us to to go out and look around at apartments.”
“I thought Adam had a ton of things planned out.”
“Oh, I can avoid a lot of those outgoings. I packed a few dresses.”
“I thought you were going to be nice to Adam.”
“It goes both ways and like I said, I don’t trust Adam to hold up to his apologetic self from last year.”
Garrett nodded.