“Do I even want to know what that all means?” Leah asked, noting that Erie had started to appear on the mileage marker signs.Only 180 more miles of Avi Wolfson’s drama.
He heaved a gusty sigh. “It means when the tour bus pulls away without you, and all you’re left staring at is an oil spoton the pavement. Except in my case, the pavement was snow-covered. And slushy.”
“Wow. Is that a regular occurrence, or like a rock star rite of passage?”
“It was a stupid mistake I won’t ever make again,” he muttered, and briefly launched into a story about his friend Tobin and some Pepto. Sounded way too much like not her circus and not her monkeys to care.
“Can I text one person?”
“This isn’t jail. You’re allowed more than one call.”
“Thanks.” The car fell silent as he thumbed manically at her old model iPhone in its sparkly green case. “I’ll erase all trace after.”
It felt strange to have another person texting from her phone, hearing theswoopof back-and-forth conversations. Then again, she couldn’t imagine what it felt like for Avi to be with no phone, period. Even for a few hours. Especially on the road with –
“What’sDragon’s Deepest Desire?”
“Get out of my reading app! It’s an audiobook.”Had this man no boundaries?He certainly had no right to judge the Romantasy reading material that she had been hoping to enjoy in peace.
Suddenly, punchy rock guitar and drums filled the speakers of her car stereo, and Avi was tapping his hands (and her phone) on his thighs to the beat.
“Come on, Letty. Shotgun rider always plays DJ.”
She swiped her phone from his hand and jabbed the volume button on the car stereo. “My car, my rules!”
“Hey, watch the road!” He grabbed the Jesus strap above the door theatrically. “Are you always this controlling?”
“Are you always this…thisoblivious? And selfish?” She gripped the wheel tighter. “God, some things just never change.”
Been there, done that, got stuck in your traffic jam.
“What the hell is that even supposed to mean?”
“It means you and your shitty playlist ruined my bat mitzvah celebration and you still have no clue!”
Chapter Seven
What the actual fuck?
“Gee, I guess you must’ve thought about me a little, then – if you’ve been holding a grudge against me for what? Fourteenyears.”
Forget Kismet. This was some sort of bad karma. Was one of Dante’s rings of hell the interstate between Ohio and Pennsylvania? Avi felt like he was in the front row of the rollercoaster funhouse car, a captive audience to this girl’s middle school rehash.
“You really don't remember, do you?" Leah's knuckles whitened on the steering wheel. “December fifteenth, 2008? Barely anyone came. And do you know why?”
“Wasn’t that the year of Snowmageddon? Middle of December, upstate New York? Or should I add ‘weather manipulation’ to my list of talents?”
Leah shot him a glare. “A blizzard didn’t stop them.Youdid.”
“Let me get this straight – wait. December fifteenth?”
“Yep. Jacobsdale Community Banquet Hall. The Battle of the Bands.Music So Hot, It’ll Melt Your Face…and the Snow.Ring any bells?”
“That was my first real show! The crowd was –” Warning bells were beginning to clang in his head as realization dawned. The posters he made to hang all over town with the date and place. Free admission and everything. Being so excited, he could think of nothing else. “Thatwas your bat mitzvah weekend?”
“Not just the weekend,” she snapped. “The sameday. In the same banquet facility, down the hall from your big debut.”
“I was just a finalist, Letty! I had no control over the date – or the location – of the competition.”
