“Go, motherfucker!” I’m lying on my back across the seat, laughing my ass off.
“God, you fucking troublemaker!” Bean throws the car in reverse with a snicker and takes off down the road. “I hope you brought breakfast.”
I hold the bag up in the air. “What the hell do you take me for? Of course I brought breakfast.”
“How’s Gloria this morning?”
“Good. She says you’re trying to kill me with these touristy summer adventures, and she has a crush on your dad. Made some terrible coffee-related threats if you don’t bring him into the shop soon.”
“Of course she did. And of course she does. She has a crush on half the men in the state.”
I sit up and take a croissant out of the bag before passing it up to the front. “You going to hand me my coffee, or am I going to have to push you out of the car?”
“The man who tries to keep you away from caffeine is putting his life at risk.” Alex turns and gives me my cup, and my fingers brush his when I take it from him. That fucking shock of electricity runs through me, and my eyes lock with his. I force myself to drag my gaze away from the need I see there. I’m afraid of what he saw in mine.
Bean takes a bite of her pastry. “Any ideas on what we should do for lunch?”
“You ask that while your mouth is full of breakfast, kiddo?”Alex asks with a chuckle before taking a bite of his own breakfast.
“Dude, Minnie and I can fight about it all damn day long. Figured I’d get a jump on it.”
I lean forward. “Okay, here’s how it’s going to go. We’ll debate it the whole way up the mountain, but come to no decision. We’ll decide we’re starving in the gift shop and buy a bunch of snacks. We’ll then eat the fudge and jerky and fuckknowswhatelse on the way back down, so by the time we get anywhere close to a restaurant, we’ll have stomach aches from all the junk.”
Bean nods. “That’s fair. Sounds like something we would do.”
“It’s literally what we always do,” I remind her.
“I wish you weren’t right.”
“But I am.”
“Yeah, yeah. Know it all.”
I sit back with a smirk.
We stop at all the turnouts and viewpoints along the way. I make Alex pose for pictures with Bean every chance I get. His glares hold no heat, and we’re both enjoying ourselves, even if we’re fighting it.
I might be mad at him, and I might be annoyed as fuck that he still turns me on after stomping on my heart, but that doesn’t stop me from snapping a few extra shots of him when he isn’t paying attention…
Bean swivels in her seat to face me as much as she can after parking at a history center. “Hey, Minnie, check out the car behind us.”
I follow her gaze and see a red 1990s Mustang. “What about it?”
“Didn’t you lose your virginity in a car just like that?”
I turn and stare at her for a few seconds before realizing she’s serious. “That was you, dipshit.”
She blushes, and her eyes go wide. She stares straight at me, refusing to turn her eyes toward her dad. “Oh shit, it was! So, wait…that means you lost yours in the dugout, right?”
“Jesus Christ, this is not a game I want to play with you, but no. That was Carla.”
“Oh, come on and play! Um…Timmy’s basement, Halloween night, junior year.” She claps and points at me like she knows she’s right. She’s wrong.
“How are you so terrible at this? That was Stacy!”
“How are you so good at this? Um, the DC trip!”
I shake my head. “Betty. Oh, and Katrina. And I think Alice.”
