I narrowed my eyes. “Just like that?”
He shrugged. “I mean, I can just start calling you Mrs. Ford if you prefer that.”
I threw a sugar packet at him.
Ryan caught it and laughed. “It’s not a big deal, Wills. It’s just a name. Use whatever one you want.”
Plates appeared in front of us, piled high with fluffy banana pancakes, eggs, and bacon so crisp it shattered when I touched it.
We ate quietly, both of us enjoying the din of the restaurant as more and more folks piled in for the peak of the breakfast rush. I tried to push away the thoughts of what awaited me back home, but they kept flooding in. I needed a distraction.
“I’m sorry this throws a wrench into your master plan to get your twelve-step program to work.”
Ryan crunched on a piece of bacon. “You’re not sorry. But neither am I.”
“Hate to break it to you, but there’s no cool date spots in my Manhattan. Nowhere for a wow moment.”
He studied me curiously. “If you haven’t noticed by now, it’s not about flashy dates.”
“Darn it,” I joked.
Ryan grabbed a single-ply napkin and wiped his mouth. “If you never want to see me again at the end of this, that’s your business. But I’m not playing around.”
“Why did you insist on coming with me?” I drained the last of my coffee and appreciated how quickly the caffeine went to my brain. “Last week we didn’t even know each other, and now you’re committing to a twenty-something-hour road trip and being thrown into a stranger’s very weird family dynamic.”
“Because you don’t get to choose when life happens,” Ryan said. “Sometimes shit like this happens the day you meet your soulmate. Sometimes it doesn’t happen until you’ve been married for a decade and have the house with the white picket fence.”
“I don’t want a white picket fence.”
“No?”
The lady dropped off the bill. When I made a move for my purse, Ryan shook his head and reached for his wallet.
“You got the gas. Let me cover breakfast.” He handed over his card, then turned back to me. “What’s the dream, then?”
“I want a little house and a big van.”
“You want to keep traveling?"
“I love it,” I admitted. “I’m saving up for one of those tricked-out passenger vans with a full bed and kitchenette in the back.”
Ryan’s card was dropped back off, along with a receipt for him to sign. I left a few bills on the table to cover the tip before easing out of the booth. We made pit stops at the restrooms before heading out to the car to tackle the next stretch of highway.
“Where?” Ryan asked as he opened the driver’s side door for me.
I slid behind the wheel. “Where what?”
“Where do you want the little house?”
I let out a sharp breath as daylight lit up the mountains in breathtaking blues and greens. It was angelic. “Halfway between home and heaven.”
Ryan shut my door, then climbed in the other side and buckled up. “Whenever you decide where that is, let me know so I can start looking at properties.”
This man . . .
“Do you have a quippy comeback for everything?” I asked as I pulled out of the lot and followed the GPS back to the highway.
“What makes you say that?”
