I didn’t realize I was smiling. “Nothing. You? I don’t know.” I laugh.
“Yeah? Why? ’Cause you got to sleep with me after all these years of apparently being in love with me…?” she jokes.
“Very funny.”
Ten minutes later, we’re on the road again. The roads are much better than they were last night, cleared and salted. The GPS says we’ll be home in just under two hours.
“I need something to eat and I have to pee,” Addison informs me.
“Already figured. There’s a gas station up here a few miles.”
“Good. They better have bagels and coffee.”
“I’m sure they have coffee. I could go for a bacon, egg, and cheese.”
“Mmm, me too.” She hums like she hasn’t eaten in three days.
* **
Addison goes in to get her stuff while I fill up with gas. She comes out before I’m done, her hands full, coffees in each hand and a bag over her arm.
“I got it all,” she says.
“For me too?”
“Yeah, just go pee,” she suggests.
“Oh okay, cool.”
When I get back out to my truck, she’s got it all set out for me. A black coffee and a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich. She’s already eating hers.
I reach for my wallet. “How much?”
“No, nothing.” She shoos my hand away.
“You’re not paying for my breakfast.” I thumb through my cash.
“You paid for everything yesterday,” she argues.
“I don’t care.”
I come across the thirty-five cents she gave me back yesterday, a funnier idea coming to mind.
“Here’syourquarter to call someone who cares.” I hand over the quarter and dime along with a ten-dollar bill.
“Very funny.” She smiles back at me.
We get back on the road, the conversation and kiss coming to mind again. We haven’t talked about it since then, and the space between us feels sorta awkward to me. I want to talk about it, I’m just not sure exactly what I want to say. I already said everything last night.
“So—”
“Wesley, I don’t want to talk about it. Not right now,”she says, like she read my mind.
“Okay.” A pit forms in my stomach. That’s not very reassuring, but I get it. It’s a lot to take in.
“I’m not saying I don’t have feelings for you, I just…this is a lot. I feel like I need to go through all the breakup emotions first before I jump into something else. Does that make sense?”
“Course. I didn’t want to even tell you yet—I would’ve given you time—but then we sorta got into it, and—”
