“Want to talk about it, sweetie?” the woman asks.
I’m about to tell her no, but for some reason I start talking and don’t stop. I tell her about Griffin and the dates and Nonna and Hundred Hands Harold and Wes and Margot and the baby. She doesn’t seem shocked by my word vomit, just nods along and lights another cigarette.
“So this boy that brought you here…”
“Nathan,” I say.
“Yes, Nathan. You think he did that because some evil person told him to?”
I let out a sharp laugh. “The Evil Joes. My twin cousins, Jo Lynn and Mary Jo. Evil Joes are evil,” I say, mimicking Charlie. I will never doubt him again.
The woman nods along. “But the boy on his way to pick you up…”
“Wes.”
“He’s just a friend?”
I chew on my bottom lip. “Yes. Maybe more. Maybe not. I don’t know for sure. I’m so confused.”
She takes a long drag and I watch the fire burn halfway up the cigarette. “It’s awful nice of that boy to come all this way to pick you up. Do you get to go on one of these dates with him?”
“That’s really not up to me,” I say. “Someone else has to pick him.”
A frown crosses her face. “Well, that doesn’t seem right.”
Lights sweep across the front window of the small gift shop, and I see Wes’s truck. But before I can get off my stool, he’s barging through the front door.
I can tell when he registers the contents of the gift shop, because he blushes slightly.
“Did he pick this place, or the Evil Joes?” Wes asks. “And where is he?”
“The Evil Joes, hon,” Alma answers for me. “And that boy left just after your friend here locked herself in the bathroom.”
He moves closer to me. “Are you okay?”
“Yes!” I can’t hop off of the stool fast enough. “This is just so completely awkward.” As we turn to leave, I stop and throw my arms around Alma. “Thank you,” I say.
She hugs me back and whispers, “Maybe you should be the one picking your dates.”
Once we’re out of the shop, I stuff my hands in my pockets. “I don’t even have words for this,” I say in a quiet voice.
“I didn’t know anything like this existed,” he says back, gazing up at the ridiculously large screen.
I punch him in the arm and he looks back at me, blushing. Then I start laughing. Wes joins in and before long we’re both doubled over.
Finally, we leave the drive-in and get back on the highway headed home.
“Okay, spill,” he says.
I give him the rundown. “The funny thing is, I really think he was as shocked as I was. But even if he was, I couldn’t ride back with him. I mean, I’ve never felt so uncomfortable in my life!”
Wes shakes his head. “I’m glad you called me. What do you think your grandmother is going to say?”
I was thinking about that almost the entire time I was waiting for Wes. “You know they’ll just play dumb and say Nathan picked the movie.Oh, Nonna! We had no idea!”
“And then Maggie Mae will be like,That boy is a card short of a full deck!” Wes’s imitation of my aunt’s accent is dead-on, and I crack up all over again. He throws me his phone. “Open the group text and tell them your date is over. Everyone is going to flip.”
I open the group conversation, and scroll through the texts where everyone is recounting the bets they made on tonight’s date. The majority of my family seems to think I’ll make it until at least 8:30 p.m.
