Duke settled himself behind the wheel, his presence already making this small truck feel even smaller.
I pointed to the cup closest to me. “Dr. Pepper?”
He smiled. “I hear it’s better when it falls.”
“Any secret notes under here?” I picked it up and checked the bottom of the cup but found nothing.
“No secrets today.”
I tried keeping the flutters in my belly at bay by taking a big swig. After swallowing, I motioned to the Coke can in his seat. “Have you checked to see if a Coke tastes better when it falls?”
“I don’t think I’d care either way. I just like the sound it makes when I open it from a can. I feel like I’m in a Coke commercial, dancing somewhere on a beach.”
I laughed at the image as he pulled onto the road.
He rustled around in a bag in the middle console and pulled out a Twix. “It pained me buying this.”
I tucked back a piece of my hair before reaching to take the bar from his hand. My fingers brushed against his and I felt my face flush. “Thank you. I didn’t know we were getting snacks.”
“Sure. You all ready for this?”
“I think so.” I nudged at my laptop bag sitting at my feet. “I wasn’t sure what to bring or do, but I was thinking I’d take notes about what exactly they’re wanting and go from there.”
Duke nodded, pulling us onto the freeway. When he didn’t say anything else, I continued. “So, how do you know Bart and Birdie? Please tell me they’re not your family.”
He smiled. “They’re my grandparents.”
My hand covered my face. “I knew it! Why didn’t you tell me?”
He flipped his hat around backward. “I didn’t say at the meeting because I didn’t want you to feel weird in front of everybody, and then I kind of…forgot.”
I gave him a look.
“Imostlyforgot. My grandpa’s the coolest guy you’ll ever meet, though. He and my grandma live on a little ranch, although they’ve sold off most of the cows now. I grew up coming here for weeks at a time every summer. I’d pretend to be a cowboy. My grandpa used to have this old mechanical bull he’d let us ride, like the ones at the fair. Me and my brother would ride that thing all day.”
I surprised myself when a memory of the kiss cam night came back to me. “Are these the grandparents you were sent to after you blew up the mailboxes?”
“Yeah. You’ll love them.”
“I didn’t know you had a brother,” I said.
“Two of them, actually. They’re both married with kids. One lives in Logan, and one down south in Cedar City.”
“Kind of funny you have two brothers and I have two sisters.”
He adjusted his hat, pulling it low over his ears as he watched the road. “Where are your sisters at? Do they live at home still?”
“They’ve both moved out. One is in college in Logan, and my middle sister moved to New York a couple years ago.”
“New York?”
“She got a job as a nanny for a family there. She’s the one who had the hardest time with my mom.”
He nodded. “So, how’s your mom doing now?”
I looked out the window, watching the city pass in a blur. I caught sight of our gray office before the crowd of buildings blocked its view.
“She got married again. With all her kids graduated, she didn’t feel like she needed to stick around this time. She and her husband, Kip, have been road-tripping all over the country in an RV. She moved out of her apartment, and he sold his house.”
