Luka glanced over at Abby who was absorbed in a new and improved Scrabble dictionary. He shook his head and grinned a little.
'You know..." he said. "I really do not need to have you reading any more of that. You beat me easily enough as it is." Abby looked up and smiled. She slipped the book in the pocket of her door and sat up straighter in her car seat.
"Actually I was preparing myself for Maggie," she said. "We had a tendency to go at Scrabble for hours." Luka frowned and looked at her. Abby winked and nodded.
"It was a manic thing." She chuckled as Luka shook his head and turned back to his driving. Abby drummed her fingers on the dashboard in front of her and then picked up one of the brochures that had been tossed there. She grinned as she looked at the pictures from the train museum they had just visited.
"This was interesting," she said as she looked through the brochure again.
"My father would have loved it," Luka said. "Did I tell you that he..."
"Was a conductor on a train while you were growing up?" she interrupted. "Yes. About 20 times in the last day or so."
"It is a very...prestigious...job for your father to have when you are a little boy," he grinned. "Kept him away from home a lot though."
"And so now he paints," she said. Luka nodded.
"And sculpts."
"Why don't you have anything that he's done?" she asked. Luka shrugged.
"I had a couple of pieces once. I just haven't asked him to replace them yet." Abby turned to watch him thoughtfully for a moment. She wondered if the art pieces he'd talked about were destroyed when his family was killed. She reached over to caress his forearm and Luka grinned when he glanced at her. He threaded his fingers through her's and sighed.
"I really need some music," he pleaded. Abby rolled her eyes and released his fingers to go through the CDs in the glove compartment. She glared at him and shook her head as she slipped one into the CD player. Luka tapped the steering wheel and bobbed his head as the opening strains of Celine Dion came from the speakers. He reached over and adjusted the volume and grinned at Abby. She shook her head and reached for her dictionary.
She called Maggie on her cell phone when they passed St. Paul. They chatted for a while as Maggie guided them off the highway to her apartment building. She was waiting outside when Luka pulled the car into a parking spot.
"Here we go," Abby murmured as she smiled and unbuckled her seat belt. "Are you sure you don't want to convince her to let us stay in a hotel?" Luka chuckled softly and opened his door.
"Rules of the road..." he said softly. "Number three...enjoy your destination." Abby rolled her eyes and shrugged as she opened her door.
"Right," she drawled softly and waved. "Hi, Mom!"