“There’s a blank space. Then it goes to another scene. It jumps from one part of the story to the next,” Katie complained. It happened at such a crucial point in the story too!
“I deleted that,” Jackson said. “Remember the book club my mom hosted?”
“Sure,” Katie didn’t really see what that had to do with anything.
“There were some remarks about how sometimes some of the more intimate scenes are a little stilted or awkward. I reread what I had written for this book and I agree,” Jackson merged onto the highway. “I deleted the scene and I’m going to rewrite it. Unfortunately, I’m finding it a little difficult.”
“Didn’t you say this was due this week?” she questioned. How was he going to get it done on time?
“It is. However, I want to get the book done right,” he slowed with the rest of traffic as they entered a construction work zone.
“Aren’t you worried about making the deadline?”
“A little,” he shrugged. “Especially now that we have to drive instead of fly but once I get it figured out I can type pretty fast. The problem isn’t the specifics of writing what I want to happen, it’s more figuring out how to convey what’s supposed to be the magic of the moment.”
“Supposedto be the magic? Don’t you think there is magic in a first kiss?” Katie curiously asked.
“I’ve always found first kisses to be a bit of a disappointment,” he remarked. “I guess because you build something up in your mind and it’s never quite how you imagined.”
“You’re a first kiss cynic,” she said in surprise. “I would have never guessed.”
“A first kiss cynic? Is there even such a thing?” Jackson was amused by the idea.
“I bet you think you know how the relationship is going to turn out by the first kiss,” Katie leaned back to study him.
Jackson was surprised by her observation. “I try not to judge by the first kiss.”
“Key wordtry, which means you do judge by the first kiss,” she said in satisfaction. “No wonder you’re not married.”
“Maybe I just haven’t found the right person yet,” he calmly tossed back the cliché. “You’re not married either, who are you to judge?”
“I don’t judge by first kisses,” Katie retorted. “I judge by actions done in the relationship.”
“Okay, so what if the first kiss was absolutely awful? Like full-on disgusting? Are you going to give him a second chance to see what kind of a guy he is?” Jackson warmed to the debate.
“Maybe,” probably not, she silently admitted. “He might be an amazing guy.”
“Who is a terrible kisser, which to most people would be a deal breaker,” he said.
“True but is it really okay to judge someone by the first kiss? Maybe they were nervous? Maybe the next kiss will be better?” she looked at the passing scenery and Jackson wondered again about the mystery man in Katie’s life. She hadn’t mentioned anyone, nor had she said anything about the results of the pregnancy test. He’d asked a few people if Katie was seeing anyone and no one seemed to know anything which made Jackson wonder. He had thought about asking Trent or a few of Katie’s friends but he reasoned that if he did that people might think he was interested in dating her. Which he wasn’t. Although, he wondered why he had never thought of dating Katie. He supposed it was because his mom had always been trying to pair up Trent and Katie.
Over the next day of travelling he found out a couple of things about Katie. They were trying to get to the second booking so they took turns driving and sleeping in the truck. Katie snored softly when she slept. He learned how she drank her coffee. She was easy to talk to. After driving a tiny hatchback, she loved driving his truck. She had shot him the most amazing smile when she put it into drive.
She filled out a pair of jeans really well. Jackson tried not to notice. She was in a relationship with someone. She might be pregnant. It didn’t stop him from looking, even as he admonished himself.
He tried to work on rewriting his romance scenes. They weren’t going well. If anything, he felt they were even more awkward than before. It wasn’t long before he shut off the laptop and settled back to try to sleep. He drowsily watched Katie drive and decided she was right pretty. No, she was more than pretty. He closed his eyes and hoped that the father of the baby wasn’t Trent. Jackson wasn’t sure if he could handle his brother being involved with Katie, which was silly because he wasn’t involved with Katie. They were just friends. Jackson clamped down firmly on the thoughts and did his best to sleep.
He woke to the screeching of brakes, the cracking of the windshield and being thrown against his seatbelt.
“Katie?” he looked immediately at her, worried. She had the steering wheel in a death grip. He looked to see the windshield was still holding but cracked everywhere. He leaned over and put a hand over hers. “Let’s pull off the road.”
Pale and shaking, she nodded. Together they carefully maneuvered the truck to the shoulder and put it in park. Katie immediately burst into tears.
Alarmed, Jackson undid both their seatbelts and pulled her into his arms for a hug. “Are you hurt? What happened?”
“I think I killed Bambi!” she wailed into his shirt and Jackson couldn’t help but chuckle. He rubbed her back and observed that the rest of traffic seemed to be proceeding normally.
A man knocked on the driver’s window and Jackson opened it part way.
