Side Trip(79)

She frowned. “That car you were driving . . . it was your dad’s. He drove that car to LA.”

“And he never sold it. I have no idea why he kept it. The heap barely ran. He wrote into his will that I had to drive the same car and I couldn’t use my cell. He didn’t have one on his trip so why should I? I have to show Rick my phone bill to prove I didn’t use it.”

“That’s not cool.”

Dylan could think of a few stronger words to describe Jack’s conditions.

“I want that inheritance, Joy. I’m not greedy, but Chase and I don’t want to take out a loan or have silent investors.”

“You’re using the money to expand your label.”

He nodded. “I’m better at making stars than being one. I’m petrified of the stage, you know that. I might enjoy performing in front of an audience a little bit more than when I started this trip, but my fear has been with me my whole life. It isn’t going to disappear after a few small gigs in dive bars. But I went on this trip anyway, and I did what Jack demanded. You helped, too, did you know that?”

“Me?”

“You.” He risked touching her hair, tucking a loose tendril behind her ear. She didn’t flinch, and a sad smile touched his mouth.

“I would have been miserable on this trip if I didn’t have your friendship. Through you, I learned that the stage didn’t have to be so intimidating. When you narrow your focus on one person, sing for that one person, it changes everything. You get out of your head and can face your fears. You’re my one person, Joy. I’ll always sing to you.”

Dylan looked at her for a long moment, his gaze drifting over her face, memorizing every delicate feature. Shimmery ribbons of tears cut down her cheeks. She silently regarded him with a deer-in-the-headlights expression. He wished that she would trust him enough to unburden whatever she was holding on to. He wished this wasn’t the end of the road for them and that he could at least have those three extra days to JFK to convince her to take a chance on them. But she remained frozen, locked in her fears.

Dylan pushed his door farther open and started to get out of the car.

“Wait!” She grabbed his wrist. “Don’t go.”

“I don’t want to, but unless you can be honest with yourself about your feelings, I’m not sure—”

“I killed my sister.”





CHAPTER 28





BEFORE


Joy

Litchfield, Illinois

I killed my sister.

Only four words, yet so detrimental. They dictated her behavior over the course of eight years. They shaped her into the woman she believed she was today. A killer.

Until now, Joy had never spoken those words out loud. But she’d thought them every single day since the day Judy died.

She’d come close to confessing on plenty of occasions, like the morning after the accident when her parents came to see her in the hospital, or when Taryn visited her at home those initial days after she was discharged. Like the other day at breakfast when she almost told Dylan the entire story.

Working her way through Judy’s Route 66 Bucket List did make Joy feel better about what she’d done and helped her feel closer to her sister. But it also made the compulsion to confess unbearably difficult to ignore. The more she struggled to keep it a secret, the more the truth wanted out.

Dylan closed his door and settled back into his seat, angling his body toward her. She let go of his wrist, but he grabbed up her hand, laced his fingers with hers. “It’s okay. You can tell me.”

His voice, a caress of words, brought on more tears.

He touched her chin. “It’s just us. Whatever you say in the car stays in the car. Got that?”

Dylan couldn’t absolve her guilt. But he’d asked her several times this past week to trust him. She did. Goodness, she’d jumped off a bridge because she trusted his word she’d be safe.

Joy started from the beginning, from her plan to tag along with Judy to the graduation party, to the meltdown on the driveway. She’d promised Taryn that she’d be there. But her parents refused to let Judy give her a ride. And her tantrum did nothing but serve her a one-night sentence in her room.

She told Dylan about the car, explaining the issue with the seat belts. But that hadn’t stopped Joy. She’d stowed away in the back, hiding on the floor under a blanket. She had her plan all worked out. She’d meet up with her friend Taryn, whose parents had a cabin down the street from the hosts of the graduation party. They’d invite Kevin over to Taryn’s for popcorn and movies, and then Joy would sneak back into Judy’s car before her sister left, and be home before her parents. No one in her family would know Joy had left her bedroom.

But her sister had no intention of driving home that night.

“I misheard my mom about the time Judy had to be home. I thought she meant eleven that night. She’d meant eleven the next morning. Then I find out that Taryn and her family canceled their plans to go to their cabin that weekend. Thing is, I didn’t know that until after I got up there and found their house dark and locked up.”

“What did you do?” Dylan asked, his thumb tracing circles on the back of her hand.

“I tried to lie low until it was time to go home,” she explained. Then she told him the rest, about Kevin, Judy, the dock, and Judy’s sudden announcement they were leaving.