"How much longer?" I asked. The rental car smelled of new car and air freshener and I could hardly wait to get out.
"Not to long, we're going into Connecticut now," Dean said and turned of I-84 East onto the small back roads. "I think we cross into Ridgefield when we pass Turner Hill or something."
"What's Turner Hill?"
"A street."
I nodded and let Metallica fill my head.
A few song later we were driving into town, although one of the songs was I'm Your Captain by the Grand Funk Railroad, which is ten minutes long, so it really messed up the way we were counting time. Over all it probably took twenty to twenty-five minutes to get to town from there.
"Where should we stay the night?" I asked as we drove down the main street for the third time. The town was clearly residential, the buildings on either side being stores with town houses above on the second floors. The street was nice, two lanes with parking on either side, and side walks a few feet wide. Street lights were placed every ten feet or so, and some trees lined the side of the road as well. It was clear they were decorated with tree lights during the winter to help make the area seem more festive.
"I think I saw an inn on the way into town, so..." He turned and drove away from the greener end of town and toward the center. Eventually we pulled towards a library, and beyond that I saw the sign for an Elms Inn hanging by a construction site.
"Looks closed to me," I groaned.
"Great. Just great!"
We turned again.
"Hey look! A bookstore!" I exclaimed. "Books on the Commons!"
"Perfect. Can we sleep there?"
"Wait, a candy shop!"
"So?"
"Sweet tooth." I waited for my prompt to settle in.
"Sammy, you're a genius. We'll visit after we find a place to stay."
We drove on, though I could have sworn I saw Gabriel's head in the window of Debra Ann's, the sweets shop.
Dean circled around a bit more, eventually stopping to ask a local for advice as to where to stay, or course after pausing the music.
"Excuse me, sir," he called from the window of the stopped car. "Do you know of a good inn to stay at for a night or two?"
The man turned. "Try the West Lane Inn! It's just down the street towards the fountain, turn right, and it's in your right."
"Thank you!" Dean pulled back through the window and rode off.
"West Lane Inn. Sounds fancy. They might even give us mints!" Dean looked at me with that young smile I hadn't seen in a while, the one where he knew what he was saying was funny only to him, but he still wanted a laugh by actin ridiculous. I snorted at his stupidity, though I knew it was the reaction he wanted.
"Just keep driving!"
