Free Love Ahead: Expect Delays by Astrid Amara

stared out the front window,
    grimacing. “You’re gonna take the Yellowstone Highway out of Casper, got it? To
    fucking Bethany’s goddamned house.”
    Zach didn’t ask for details. However, Dave wanted to share them.

    58
    Astrid Amara

    “Never trust a fucking woman, boy,” Dave told Zach. “They’re all lying
    bitches.”
    “Good to know,” Zach said shakily.
    “And that bitch Bethany’s the queen fucking liar of them all.” Dave gave a half
    cough, half chuckle, and for a moment Zach hoped he was dying, but he was just
    clearing his throat. “Couldn’t wait two fucking years until I got out? That’s all I
    asked. Two fucking years! And that son of a bitch Riley’s in her fucking shorts.”
    Zach offered nothing in way of response. He started calculating what a man
    might be imprisoned for two years for. Armed robbery? Assault? Probably not
    murder. He felt slightly better.
    Of course, that assumed Dave had been officially released from prison.
    “I shoulda known with her. Girl like that, she’s destined to be a whore.”
    “So why do you want to see her?” Zach asked.
    “Because she’s going to fucking pay for cheating on me!” Dave yelled. “Nobody
    fucks with me like that and gets away with it! I’ve dreamed of gutting her for
    months now.”
    Zach’s hands shook. He needed to be smart, not witty, or else he would end up
    dead and would never be able to report Austin’s location to anyone.
    As Dave continued to detail what he planned to do to his ex-girlfriend, Zach
    realized this whole tragedy was his fault. Austin was freezing to death, alone in the
    middle of nowhere, and it was because of him. It was his stupid idea to do this road
    trip. Some consolation prize for Austin. Not only do I not trust you enough to live
    with you, I’m going to leave you to freeze to death in a ditch in Buttfuck, Wyoming .
    Zach wondered what it would feel like to freeze to death. Probably very terrible, he
    decided.
    Dave occasionally interrupted his diatribe on the evils of Bethany to describe
    the generalized depravities of womankind. He’d turn to Zach for feedback but
    continue on before Zach even had enough saliva in his bone-dry mouth to answer.

    Love Ahead: Expect Delays

    59

    At one point Dave asked Zach if he had ever been married, and when Zach croaked
    a weak no, Dave seemed to think this a bonding moment. He let the gun go lax in
    his hands as he launched into a fantasy of all the things his old best friend Riley
    would feel before he died an excruciating death for sleeping with Dave’s girl.
    Zach’s fear, after time, mellowed into an exhaustion. He didn’t have the energy
    to be terrified on high alert much longer. And he found Dave’s monotonous revenge
    soliloquy tiring, although he didn’t offer any critique.
    Dave’s attention was distracted by the Star of David keychain dangling from
    the glove-compartment lock.
    “What’s this shit?” Dave asked, flicking it.
    “Star of David,” Zach answered.
    “What are you, a Jew?”
    What amazing powers of deduction you have , Zach nearly said but censored
    himself by saying nothing.
    Dave might have found women and Riley offensive, but apparently being
    Jewish was okay. He shrugged. “My uncle’s a Jew. Rest of the family’s Swedish.”
    “Oh yeah?” Zach offered neutrally.
    “Hey, how many Swedes does it take to grease a combine?”
    Zach’s fear nearly made him incapable of answering. “I don’t know.”
    “Only two, if you run them through real slow.” Dave cackled at his joke.
    Dave offered another. “Did you hear about the Swede who went ice fishing and
    came back with ten pounds of ice?”
    Zach laughed nervously, a sound that sounded a bit like crying with a smile.
    Dave didn’t seem to mind.
    Luckily, Zach knew a few racial jokes himself. “Did you hear about the Swede
    who couldn’t eat spaghetti? He didn’t have long enough dishes.”
    To his relief, Dave laughed. “That’s a good one, boy!”

    60
    Astrid