Clearing my throat, I start for the passenger’s side. “You’d better go to the restroom. We’re not going to stop again for a while.”
“Okay…” She shakes her blonde head at me and rolls her eyes. “Dad.”
I watch her sass away in that thin yellow dress with no bra in those white boots, and dirty thoughts come uninvited to my mind. Thoughts that start with her on the hood of the car and end with her on my lap in the backseat… legs spread, hips rolling.
“She’s pretty damn cute, huh?” Scout walks out, breaking my pornographic fantasy.
He shoves a mask in his pocket and tosses a football in the air. He throws it to me, and like muscle memory, I catch it.
“I don’t care.” Looking at the brown leather, I shake my head. “Not interested in this either.”
Scout slides in the driver’s side, and I climb in the back. “You’re just a barrel of laughs these days.”
“Nothing to laugh about.”
“Getting out two years early sounds like a good place to start.”
“I shouldn’t have been there in the first place.” Lying across the bench seat, I dig in my bag for a ball cap.
“Right.” My brother nods, looking out the windshield. “I was thinking you might ask her to stay when we get to Fireside.”
“Why the fuck would I do that?”
“Because she’s cute as hell, and you’re both starting from scratch…”
“When we get to Fireside, I’m sending you both back to California. That’s the end of it.”
Exhaustion creeps up the back of my neck as I pull the cap over my eyes. I don’t even respond when my brother makes some additional remark about life going on. I’m too tired to get pissed again about what happened to me. I’m too tired for much of anything right now.
And as I’ve already noted, this road trip isn’t about romance.
Hope
“I walked into the conference room and said, ‘Here’s the file you needed.’ Dustin Hoffman says, ‘Thank you, Scout,’ and boom. I’m in the union.” He smiles, and I can’t help smiling back.
“That’s amazing. Dustin Hoffman?”
“Yep.” Scout is infectious—adorable and open, and so friendly.
Nothing like the dark cloud currently snoring on the backseat. The dark cloud I can’t help stealing another glance at… Something about John “JR” Dunne makes my insides all hot and zippy. I want to put my thumb on that full bottom lip and pull it down. I want to bite him… I want him to put his hands on my body and do dirty things to me.
Blinking away that impossible thought, I exhale a laugh, returning my attention to his brother. “It took how long for you to get in the union?”
“Three years…” He winces, looking out the window as if he’s embarrassed. “I kind of got off on the wrong foot in Hollywood.”
I’m about to ask what happened when Mr. Dark Cloud cuts in. “You can say that again.” John sits up in the backseat, and my heart beats a little faster. “Damn I’m starving. Anybody else hungry?”
“Fuck, I could eat a horse!” Scout yells, and I’m glad I’m not the only one starving to death.
All we’ve eaten today is road junk—Combos, Red Vines, and water. That’s following a morning of me barfing up a whole bottle of wine from last night.
“I could eat… if that’s okay?” My voice is quiet, because I have no money…
Also, what the hell am I doing here? I didn’t even have shoes before four hours ago. I was still drunk and hungover when I got in the car this morning, I can’t believe I agreed to this trip. My brain is coming back around, and I am very aware I’m driving across the country with two men I don’t know.
I blame it all on Metallicar.
And Scout sounding like my dad talking about serendipity and how this year is magical… I’d call this year cursed, but he’d probably argue curses are magical.
Scout shakes my shoulder. “You thought we were going to make you live on sunflower seeds and Chex Mix for three days?”
He’s so laid-back, I can’t help teasing, “I was hoping for Bugles and beef jerky.”
We’re just outside of Phoenix, and he exits the interstate. “Check it out… Hopeville. That seems like a good sign to me.”
“You’re such a little bitch. You haven’t even been driving four hours.” John’s voice is a low grumble from the backseat, but I hear a smile in his tone.
“I’ve been riding more than eight. We need a break.”
He turns in at the Black Bear Diner. It’s a long, rectangular building with carved black bears on stumps in rock and succulent beds, and tables arranged under what looks like newly installed awnings. A motel is right behind the restaurant with a huge yellow sign reading, “Rooms $19.95 per night.”
“I’m not sure that’s a good sign.” I shift in my seat, wondering what the plan for sleeping might be.
“We’re not spending the night,” John snaps.
Scout pulls Metallicar into a spot up front, and we stumble out. My legs feel like Jell-O, and I follow behind as John stalks towards the glass entrance. Reaching out, I catch Scout’s arm, pulling him back as his brother goes inside.
“What am I doing here?”
He stops and faces me, grinning like always. “We’re taking a road trip to Fireside, South Carolina. The Palmetto State. My hometown.”
“Yeah, but what am I doing here? I don’t belong here. I don’t have any money. We don’t really know each other—”
“Shh…” He holds a finger just in front of my lips. “You’re very important. You provided the car.”
“Your brother bought the car. It’s his car now. I fell asleep on the backseat after drinking a whole bottle of wine.”
“Who are we to question the fates?”
The sun is setting over the desert, and behind us the sky is painted in the most brilliant shades of pink, blue, and purple. It really does feel magical in this moment… And I am a fool for stuff like that. It’s because of how I was raised.
“I really need to catch a bus to San Francisco.”
He crosses his arms, grinning down at me. “But how will you pay for it?”
Chewing my lip, I look around. He’s got me there. “I guess I could ask my dad to wire me the money.” If I can get through to him in the nursing home.
“Hope Eternal…” Scout tosses a muscled arm over my shoulders, leading me towards the restaurant. “You have a purpose for being here. I knew it the minute I saw you. It’s destiny.”
“You’ve been in California too long.” Then I squint an eye up at him. “Are you trying to ask me out?”
His lips tighten, and he stops walking, glancing in the direction his brother went. “No.”
Oh fuck, I screwed this up. “That came out wrong. I didn’t mean—”
“Hey, no, I’m sorry. I like you a lot! You’re really cool and—”
“You don’t have to say that.” God, I am such an airhead.