I lifted the pink suitcase in and slammed the lid.

I got behind the wheel and started the engine at thirteen hundred hours.

The drive took exactly eighteen minutes.

I didn’t turn on the radio.

I just listened to the hum of the tires on the highway and looked at her face in the rearview mirror every time I checked the traffic.

She watched the trees go by the window in complete silence.

We passed the grocery store, the elementary school, and the small brick fire station.