He’s not perfect, but he tries.
He always tries to do right by the people he loves.
Hudson sings along to the radio as we drive out to the theater.
And it ispacked.
He giggles.
I don’t, but only because this line is too long and I don’t know if we’ll make it into the drive-in.
“Did Daphne do this?” I ask Hudson. “Did she set this all up? Is shenotgoing to New York?”
“If she did, she kept me totally in the dark. I think she’s really going back for her sister. I think the protest was all she planned. I mean, that and the rumor that Damon Camille is sleeping with his sister, which I can’t prove was Daph, but it sounds like something she’d start.”
My leg bounces.
He shoots me a look. “You wanna get out and walk?”
I blink at him. “Yes.”
“Bea—”
“Call me if you get a spot. I need—I need to go look for something. Lost it in goat yoga.”
“You can’t just?—”
I ignore him, unlock the door, and dash out of the car and onto the shoulder.
He’s still at least twenty cars back from the entrance, and then there are ten more cars lined up before getting to where you pay, and cars are already being directed into the last line in the lot, and it’s getting dark and the movie will be starting in the next five to ten minutes.
So you’re damn right I’m walking.
I start slow, but my pace quickly accelerates as I duck under an open part of the fence and start looking closer.
Black SUVs. I’m looking for black SUVs.
Specifically, Simon’s black SUV.
I can’t find it and it’s getting darker and darker and the cars arepackedin here, which is crazy because there are only so many speaker poles—except then I realize what’s different.
The speaker poles are gone.
A giant QR code flickers to life on the screen.
Scan here to be connected to audio.The show will begin momentarily.
I walk even faster.
Row after row.
Black SUVs that aren’t Simon’s.
I’m halfway to the front row when the movie screen flickers again.
It’s not the familiar sight of the beginning ofIn the Weeds, which would have been so on-brand for Simon to buy a movie theater to show his least-favorite TV show just so that he’d know that I’d know that he was pulling a giant joke on everyone.
Maybe I’m wrong.
