“You can’t be serious,” she says.
“Mae, I’m here to show you a good time and display that I’m a consummate gentleman. This is part of that. Take it,” I tell her.
She rolls her eyes and slips her hand through the crook of my elbow. I open the passenger side for her and help her in before getting in myself.
I turn the truck around in the direction of Tate Creek Ranch, which belongs to my friend, Ricky Tate. I talked to him earlier in the week about it because out here, if someone finds you on their land uninvited, you’ll be met with a barrel in your face.
“I liked the song you sent me,” I tell her.
“Fleetwood Mac is one of my favorites. I take it George Strait is yours?”
I huff. “He is, but I don’t mind the new country either.”
She hums and looks out the window.
“Are you going to tell me what we’re doing yet?” she asks.
“I can, if you’re worried, but I would like to surprise you.”
She sighs. “Okay, fine,” she says.
Ten minutes later, I turn onto a back road of the Tate Property and drive down the dirt road, rutted out from trucks and tractors going back and forth.
“What’s this place?” Mae asks.
“It’s my friend Ricky’s ranch. We were on the football team together. We all used to come out here as kids, throw a kegger and get into trouble because there was nothing else to do.”
“I’ve never been to a field party,” Mae says.
“I definitely wouldn’t want Naomi going to one, but also they feel like a rite of passage for a teenager.”
“Are you about to make up for my lack of passage as a teenager?” she asks.
My mind goes to the nights of loud music, beer pong, and making out in the truck bed.
“Yeah, actually, that’s totally possible,” I tell her and glance at her.
“Well, this should be interesting,” she says.
I chuckle and pull the truck up a hill.
“Alright, stay in the truck and give me five,” I tell her.
She gives me a funny look and settles back into her seat.
“I have to admit this is a weird start to our date.”
I grin widely. “You just gotta trust me.”
“I don’t have a choice now, do I? I have no idea where I am,” she says in a sassy tone I really like.
“Nope, so sit there and behave.”
She huffs. “I don’t appreciate being told what to do, Cooper.”
I reach for her hand and bring it to my mouth. “I know. That’s why it’ll be all the more worth it when you give in and let yourself trust me.” I kiss her knuckles and hop out of the truck.
I brought blankets and pillows, a cooler for our drinks, and one for our food. Spreading the blankets across the bed, I put the pillows by the wheel wells so there’s something to lean against. I had Fletcher help me take the toolbox off the back, and I set the little bed tray with fold out legs off to the side for us to eat off of.
