Page 169 of One Good Crash

"And I needed it."

"For what?"

He took a long pull of his beer. "To get to Florida."

This didn't tell me a whole lot, considering that we were in Florida now. "From where?" I asked.

"Michigan."

I almost dropped my glass. "You're kidding, right?"

"Nope."

"But that's like what? A twenty-hour drive?"

"Give or take."

I was staring now. "But you were fourteen years old."

"Yeah, so?"

"So that's notnearlyold enough to drive, not legally anyway."

A few weeks ago, when he'd first mentioned the incident, I'd been shocked enough. But now, after learning that the drive had been cross-country, I was utterly flabbergasted.

From the chair beside me, Jax was saying, "Then it's a good thing we weren't stopped, huh?"

Obviously, he meant by the police, but he was missing the point. "So let me get this straight," I said. "You and Jaden stole—"

"Borrowed."

I gave him a look. Allie had made a similar claim when she'd "borrowed" her ex-boyfriend's truck. But in Allie's case, she'd had at leastsomeplan to give it back.

I asked, "What does that mean? You were planning to return it?"

"I dunno," Jax said. "We didn't give it much thought."

It was a funny thing to say. I'd known Jax for months now. He was smart and almost never left anything to chance. I could hardly reconcile the guy I knew today with the kid he'd been.

"But why'd you do it?" I asked. "Were you going someplace in particular?" I tried to laugh. "I mean,pleasedon't tell me you were just heading to the beach or something."

"We had a beach back home, didn't need a car forthat."

I already knew that he'd been born in Michigan, so the statement made at least a little sense. His home-state was nearly surrounded by some of the biggest lakes in the world. No doubt, therewereplenty of beaches.

"So…." I said, "if you weren't looking for a beach, whatwereyou looking for?"

Jax turned forward to stare out over the horizon, where the moon was shimmering across the water. He was quiet for a long moment before saying, "My mom."

My breath caught. "What?"

"I was looking for my mom."

Up until now, he'd never mentioned his mom. Oh, sure, I realized that he had one, but on the rare times we even broached the topic of his family, he'd only mentioned his dad and a bunch of brothers.

Speaking more softly now, I said, "And she was in Florida?"

Jax was still gazing out over the horizon. After the briefest pause, he gave a tight nod.