Three hours into the trip, doubts assailed Dani as the miles rolled off on I-75. Was she crazy to strike out for Tennessee like this? According to the GPS on the Navigator, she would arrive in Knoxville in forty-eight minutes, and it was only two thirty. Way too early to stop for the night. She might as well drive on to Pearl Springs.
“Maybe I should’ve talked to that deputy again,” she muttered. “What do you think, Lizi?”
The Puli barked from her crate. If the dog ever answered with more than a bark . . . Dani laughed. It was bad enough that she talked to the dog like she was a person. She sat up straighter as a sign for the Tennessee Welcome Center came into view. “You want to stop and stretch your legs, girl?”
Dani certainly did. She slowed and flipped her right blinker on. Maybe she’d move Lizi to the other side of the seat so she could see her. Might not be as lonesome. Of course, she could answer Keith’s calls—three so far.
Keith’s ringtone sounded in her purse as she pulled into the Welcome Center. She didn’t want to talk to him and deal with his anger when he learned where she was going—she wouldn’t lie if he asked her point-blank. Maybe when she got to Pearl Springs. It’d be too late to do anything about it then.
Dani parked and hooked the retractable leash to Lizi’s collar. There were several dogs and their owners in the pet exercise area, and she kept Lizi on a short leash. Normally she didn’t mind the inevitable questions Lizi’s corded coat always brought, but after the third time, she was ready to return to the SUV. She tugged on Lizi’s leash. “Come,” Dani said, and Lizi quickly heeled.
After she visited the restroom, she grabbed a bottle of water to share with Lizi. Dani glanced at her new phone before fastening her seat belt. Keith had called again and left a voicemail.
He was probably worried. She pressed the button to listen to the message. Scratch that, he was definitely worried, and she didn’t want that, but neither did she want to get in a discussion with him about a grandmother he’d never told her about until she had irrefutable evidence, like a DNA test. She pressed call back. Just keep it light.
He answered on the first ring. “Why does your phone indicate you’re in Kentucky?”
Instantly, she realized Keith had installed a GPS app on her phone. Heat started in her chest and spread to her face. She’d never been this furious in her life. Dani opened her mouth and closed it and then counted to ten. When that didn’t work, she counted to twenty. Finally, she found her voice.
“Actually, we’re in Tennessee, headed to Knoxville,” she snapped. The state line was a few miles north of the rest area. Dani transferred the call to hands-free and pulled out of the rest area onto I-75.
“So you and Evelyn decided to take a girls’ trip.”
“Something like that.” She’d meant her and Lizi when she said we, but she didn’t correct him . . . It wasn’t really lying, was it? Besides, Evelyn had encouraged her to go to Tennessee.
“Why didn’t you mention it before you left?”
“It was a spur-of-the-moment thing.” And that was the truth. “You’re breaking up a little bit. Are you feeling okay?”
“Sure. Lonesome, though. When are you coming home?”
Dani hadn’t thought that far ahead. “Probably the middle of the week.”
That should give her time to talk to the woman who claimed she was her grandmother and sort things out. Once she talked to this Mae Richmond, Dani would have enough information to confront Keith.
“I guess—can survive—that—ong.” Reception was really bad. “What—re—doing—Knoxville?”
“We have a bad connection. I’ll call you back.” When he didn’t answer, she checked the screen. The call had dropped. Good. She’d never outright lied to him before, and she didn’t want to start now. She put her phone back in her purse.
The only time she’d ever thought about lying to him was when she applied for a scholarship to Montana State University. He’d always discouraged her from on-campus classes, convincing her that the associate’s degree that she’d gotten online was all she needed. She’d been eighteen and afraid to stretch her wings.
But at twenty, her advisor encouraged her to attend in-person classes, even helped her find a scholarship. It had been at the university that she met Evelyn and discovered her love of clay and that she had talent. And not just with the wheel but with sculpture and painting as well. That first semester, Evelyn had been amazed at how Dani could transform a small block of clay into a sheep or a horse or a shepherd without any formal training.
When Evelyn had asked how she did it, Dani had shrugged. She hadn’t known how to tell Evelyn that her fingers seemed to work on their own, removing clay until the animal in her mind’s eye was left. At least now, thanks to Evelyn, she knew how to not only explain her techniques but teach them.
It was the same way with her art. In the beginning, her fingers had simply drawn what she saw, but now she taught that as well. If she’d listened to Keith, she would still be dependent on him. Her cheeks heated up at how easily he’d manipulated her. Why hadn’t she been able to see what he was doing? The answer flashed like the neon sign on the side of the road advertising subs two miles ahead—because Keith had groomed her to follow his orders since she was nine years old.