“Wouldn’t be me if I wasn’t full of surprises,” I say.
He grunts in acknowledgment.
And three minutes later, his breathing regulates, slow and steady and deep, and I know he’s out.
Hopefully for the night.
If I’m lucky, I might sleep some tonight too.
I need it if I’m going to get through the next two days.
And hopefully longer.
Until I convince him to go back home.
Back to being CEO of Miles2Go.
Back to where maybe he and Margot could have a relationship, professional or more.
To where whatever he does will continue to affect my life, good or bad.
Dammit.
Definitely not sleeping again tonight.
Because I’m certain there’s not a chance in hell that I’ll be successful.
11
IS IT REALLY A ROAD TRIP IF ALL YOU DO IS SLEEP?
Oliver
I don’t knowhow I sleep as well as I do Sunday night, but I wake up Monday morning feeling like I have a hangover, yet also more fully awake and less stressed.
It’s odd.
Daphne’s clearly crawling out of her skin—she’s already showered and ready to go the minute I open my eyes, and room service lands with an impressive spread minutes later.
“Know what Aurora Gardens chain hotels don’t have? Hamburgers for breakfast. They’re so dumb,” Daphne says while she eats.
And there is indeed a hamburger on the tray, along with pancakes, a plate of pastries, scrambled eggs, fruit, coffee, orange juice, and a pastrami sandwich.
I have some of everything.
Sleeping made me hungry.
And I slept so late that it’s almost ten thirty before we hit the road, headed south.
Within half an hour—half an hour filled with an ungodly number of bugs hitting the windshield—I pull over and tell her to drive.
Most of the morning passes in a blur of me sleeping in the passenger seat, having dreams about dogs talking to each other.
She stops at some hamburger joint for lunch, more gas, and to clean the windshield—at a Miles2Go, naturally, where I sit in the car and watch the news talk about me on the little video screen on the pump. She grabs extra road food and drinks at the same time.
I pass out again as soon as she gets the car up to speed on the back country roads.
Tomorrow.
