Emma and her family piled into the back of the minivan, buckling their seatbelts. Jay leaned in from the front seat with a big grin — wide enough to show his missing front tooth — and held out a bag of cheese puffs.
The van pulled onto the highway and Jay immediately started singing at the top of his lungs, completely off-key. His hand dipped into Olivia's snack bag without asking. Emma buried her nose in a paperback book, but the pages rattled from his booming voice.
On beat three, Jay produced a bouncy ball from nowhere and launched it at the ceiling. It smacked Emma right in the forehead. He then sang an opera version of the ABC song, vibrating with every awful note, while Emma clutched her book and glared at the back of his head.
Jay suddenly stopped. He turned around, both eyes wide, and pulled a crumpled map out of his pocket — covered in colorful stickers. 'Road trip surprise!' he announced, sliding one sticker backward like he was revealing a treasure.
The whole family leaned in. Behind the sticker, the detour was marked with a giant smiley face drawn in bright yellow crayon. Mom chuckled. Dad shook his head, smiling. Even Olivia peeked over Jay's shoulder.
Emma traced the crayon smiley face with her fingertip. She couldn't help it — her stern expression softened, and just a little smile tugged at the corner of her mouth.
By the time the van hit the first rest stop, Emma was already reaching for a sticker. She pressed a smiley sticker right onto Jay's forehead while she and Olivia sang his terrible songs as loud as they could.
The whole van filled with laughter — Mom steering with one hand, Dad clapping, Olivia howling along. Jay beamed at his new forehead sticker and joined in the chorus, completely off-key as always.
They raced back onto the highway, windows down, songs still echoing. Emma sat back against her seat, the sticker still on Jay's forehead, and thought: this might actually be the best road trip ever.
The highway stretched on forever ahead, glowing gold in the setting sun. Somewhere up ahead was the detour, the surprise, and whatever came next. Emma didn't mind the noise anymore.