Read Online Golem in My Glovebox by R. L. Naquin - Free Book Online Page A

San Francisco. I don’t get out much these days.”
    The gas nozzle clicked off, and he placed it back in its cradle. “Be careful. Those gift shops lure you in with fancy shot glasses. Before you know it, you’re walking out with the second season of The Love Boat on DVD.”
    I gave him a solemn look and crossed my heart. “No Love Boat. I swear.” I walked away singing the theme song at the top of my lungs. “The Looooove Boat...Soon will be making another ruuuuun!”
    Behind me, I could hear Riley sounding like a cheap lounge singer. “The Love Boat...promises something for ev-ery-one!”
    A few minutes later, I made my way back to the car, the proud owner of a Sparks, Nevada, shot glass, a deck of cards with naked women on them, a snow globe in which dollar signs floated around a tiny casino, and a pair of mirrored sunglasses.
    Riley was already filling the cooler with more drinks for the road. “Nice shades,” he said, slamming the door shut.
    “Gently,” I said. “You don’t want Maurice to find out you mistreated his baby.” I snagged the keys from his pocket. “My turn.”
    “You’re the navigator.”
    “I think you can handle it for a while. It’s a big responsibility, but I trust you.” I grinned and jumped behind the wheel. “No time to explain! Get in!” I’d always wanted to say that.
    He slid into the passenger seat, buckling up with a sigh. “Try not to steer us off the road.”
    I lowered my head and gave him a serious look over my shiny, obnoxious new glasses. “Roads? Where we’re going, we don’t need roads.” I started the car and pulled away.
    Riley pressed his head against the seat back and pretended to white knuckle the door. “We’re going to die.”
    The smile on his face reflected in the windshield didn’t hold with his words. Riley was having the time of his life.
    * * *
    Driving or navigating, there really wasn’t much difference. The scenery held very little of interest, aside from the occasional mysterious shoe on the side of the road. We stopped for the night, as planned, on the other side of Salt Lake City, having spent about twelve hours on the road, plus stops. I tried not to think about the similar drive we’d be doing the next day.
    “Whose idea was it to do this in two days?” Riley asked, stretching his arms over his head.
    “Maurice printed out the directions and planned the route. I blame him.”
    He grabbed our bags out of the trunk and followed me into the building to our door. “Closet monsters don’t sleep much. From now on, only humans get to plan road trips.”
    I slid the keycard into the slot, waited for the green light to click on, then held the door open for Riley.
    “I got you here, didn’t I?” The familiar voice came from inside the darkened room. Closet monsters have incredible hearing, what with their enormous ears and all.
    I flinched and turned around, flicking on a light. “How the hell did you get here?”
    Maurice sat on the edge of one of the beds, grinning at us. “I came through the closet. Duh.”
    The closet he referred to didn’t even have a door on it. It was little more than an indentation in the wall with a bar across it and those weird hotel hangers that are locked in place so you can’t steal them.
    “You came through there? How is that even possible? I call bullshit.”
    Riley stacked our bags on the other bed. “Hey, Maurice.”
    “Hey, Riley. How’s the trip going?”
    I cut off Riley as he tried to answer. “Shouldn’t you be back at the house keeping an eye on things?”
    Maurice shifted and looked at his feet. “It’ll keep. I just wanted to check on you guys.”
    I dropped my purse on the desk. He was clearly hiding something. “How’s it going with Stacy? Is she cooperating?”
    He shrugged. “I guess.”
    “You guess? What’s going on, Maurice? Is she giving you a hard time or not?” I gave him my best mom-face . If I’d been wearing my cool new sunglasses, I’d have given him cop-face