And I liked it too.
I’m not allowed to like it anymore.
“You got any more songs on that playlist?” Garrett’s sudden question breaks the silence.
“I didn’t realize it had stopped.”
“We could listen to the radio?” He turns it on and gets static. “Think we’ll get lucky and avoid?—”
The chorus of “Last Christmas” interrupts him as he lands on the first station after pressing search.
“No luck for us this year, I guess,” I mutter.
He turns the radio off again.
“Hey, you can stay asleep if you want. I just gotta stretch my legs.” Garrett’s voice drifts through the muzzy heaviness of a blissful nap.
I blink my eyes open. It’s dark outside, and when I blearily focus on what’s outside the truck window, I realize we’re less than two hours from home. “Shit, how long was I asleep?”
“A couple hours.”
I push myself to sit up, my stiff muscles protesting. “I should pee, too. And it’s my turn to get coffee.”
He hops out and comes around to my side of the truck, waiting for me as I stretch and get blood flowing to my sleep-heavy limbs again.
“Let me guess, you worked nonstop for the last week to carve out this vacation time,” he says as we hurry across the parking lot to the rest stop.
I would shrug if I wasn’t shivering so hard against the cold. I work nonstop every week. “Thanks for letting me nap.”
“Yeah, of course.” He grabs the door and holds it for me, frowning.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
And then we go our separate ways into the washrooms.
I come out first, so I get in line for coffee. He joins me before I get to the cash. “Do you want anything else?”
He shakes his head. “I’m good.”
We step forward, and I place our order. After I pay, and we move down the counter to grab the drinks, he says, “I want to ask how work is going.”
I immediately bristle.
He sighs. “Yeah, I didn’t think you wanted to talk about it.”
“It’s complicated.”
“Sure. I get that.” I hate how understanding his smile is.Understanding, but sad, and it doesn’t go anywhere near his eyes.
“Double-double and a decaf mocha?” Our order is called out.
“That’s us.” I snatch mine and whirl away.
Garrett doesn’t catch up until we’re at the truck.
As I bundle myself into the passenger side, he peels off his parka and gets the truck turned on. Where I like to wear my warm coat the whole drive, he prefers to drive in just his shirt, even though his breath is visible until the heater catches up.
