“Jasmin, we’re leaving.”
Standing up, he handed Bella a few bills to pay for their desserts. He didn’t wait for Jasmin to pull on her jacket. He walked straight out the door and didn’t look back. Her hurried footsteps behind him told him she was running to catch up.
“What is wrong with you?” she shouted. “Here I am trying to help you and you just get up and leave mid-conversation. You’re so rude!”
He stopped dead and turned to face her. “Me? I’m rude? Was I the one asking a complete stranger personal questions? Was Ithe one making inappropriate and embarrassing comments? No, Jasmin. That was you! I don’t need your help when it comes to women. We’re not frat brothers. We’re not two buddies having a night out on the town and picking up chicks.” He turned on his heel and carried on walking to the motel. “Youarenotmy wing-man.”
“Yeah, you’re lucky I’m not,” she said from behind him. “With my big shlong, women wouldn’t even give you a second look. You wouldn’t stand a chance competing against me, Son.”
He stopped again, but didn’t turn around. Something happened whenever she called himSon. It softened him, instantly, immediately. How strange. She could rile him up so quickly and calm him down just as fast. The anger and aggression simply melted away and he couldn’t understand how it happened. Maybe it was the sheer ridiculousness of it all. She used a condescending tone, like she was older and wiser, and her penis envy only made it more absurd. It got him every time and he found himself grinning as she closed the gap between them.
“Oh, wow!” she gasped. “Either that’s another face spasm or…you’re smiling again. Told you, your grumpiness is just a mood.”
He rolled his eyes. “I can’t tell you how many times I think about strangling you.”
“Triple S. It’s understandable. It makes a lot of men aggressive.”
“What’s triple S?”
“Small Shlong Syndrome.”
That actually earned her a small chuckle. Credit needed to be given. No one except Kay had been able to get a smile out of him in three months.
They stopped outside her motel room and he felt like stalling the inevitable for a little longer. A few minutes ago, he couldn’t wait to get away from her and now he wasn’t ready to saygoodnight. He didn’t want to be alone just yet. As soon as his brain registered the silence, the memories came back, the guilt started eating at him, and he just wanted to feel something else, anything else. She could do that. In fact, she did it effortlessly. Whether it was good or bad, she made him feel something other than pain.
“I thought mine was kinda average,” he teased.
“Pffft! Compared to mine, it’s tiny.”
He smiled again. “You have a serious identity crisis.”
“Well, we have a long road ahead of us. Maybe I’ll find myself along the way.”
November, 8
Salt Lake City, Utah
The entire day was dedicated to sightseeing. They were going to leave Utah the next day and Jasmin wanted to see as much as possible. Kevin wasn’t grumpy today and it was refreshing to know that they could actually spend hours together without having an argument. He was actually nice to be around when he wasn’t rude or overly sarcastic. Still a little withdrawn and he didn’t talk much, but he was a lot more relaxed now than he had been in the last two days.
Everything she wanted to see in the city was in close proximity, which made it easier to bounce around from place to place. They went to the planetarium and the Fort Douglas Military museum. They visited bookstores and gift shops. At the Cathedral of the Madeleine, she discovered they had another thing in common: they were both Catholic, though neither of them went to churcheverySunday.
Overall, it was an incredible day and her excitement bubbled over as she chatted to her cousins that night. She told them everything, right down to the smallest detail and even though they were a little skeptical about her new travel buddy, they’d shared in her enthusiasm. She was having the time of her life and despite the fact that Kevin wasn’t the mostfuncompanion, she was glad she wasn’t experiencing it alone.
November, 9
Provo, Utah
Kevin removed the gas pump from the car and slotted it back in place. South Africa apparently hadpetrol attendantswho washed the windshield, filled the tank, and checked the tire pressure, so Jazz had no clue how to do those things. She probably would have learned how to do it as she went along, but he still wondered exactly how much thought she’d put into this trip before she hopped into the car. It seemed to be a very impulsive decision on her side, as impulsive as his.
It was past noon already and he was anxious to get back on the road. They’d made a quick stop in Provo to see the Bridal Veil Falls and Jasmin’s definition of quick was three and half hours. It wasn’t that he didn’t appreciate seeing all these fascinating things, he did, but his ultimate goal was to get to Florida and these unexpected delays sort of made him antsy.
They’d sat together to plan the entire trip and it bothered him that she wasn’t sticking to the plan. But it was just a few hours and now they were back on track. He got back into the car and waited for her to pay for the gas.
“So how long until we get to Arizona?” he asked when she hopped into the car again.
She tensed, looking nervous and uncertain. “I was thinking…I mean, we’re so close…I thought maybe we could just…go to Vegas…and then swoop back around to Arizona.”
He stared at her for a long time, mentally counting to ten as he tried to keep his anger in check. “That’s not what we discussed. We agreed that the next stop would be Arizona.”
