Page 29 of Dopplebanger

Evan glanced at me, almost as if he’d forgotten I was there. Obviously I’d interrupted some intense thinking.

My throat tightened. “Are you okay?”

“Worried I’m going to turn rabid since I haven’t had my shots?” he asked, and then he cracked a smile that appeared a bit on the forced side, but he was clearly trying.

“Totally. But in my defense, you’re foaming at the mouth a little.”

A laugh burst free and the sound sent hope rushing in. Tomorrow was going to be hard enough with the wedding, and beyond that, my attachment to the guy next to me had grown by leaps and bounds over the past couple of days. Funny how scared I was to lose something I’d nearly ended myself.

“Guess I could use a soda.” He peered over the top of his sunglasses. “You?”

“Sounds good. My coffee was… special.”

“And byspecialyou mean?”

“Gross, oddly thick, and disappointingly short on caffeine.”

“Well, that simply won’t do. I need your hyped-up chatter to keep me going.”

“So you do…” I almost chickened out, but I couldn’t simply stifle myself in hopes he’d realize he liked me as much as I liked him. “You do want me to talk?”

Two creases showed up between his eyebrows. “Of course. I thought… I was… I’m sorry.”

The seatbelt cut into my neck as I twisted toward him and I tugged it away from me. “Sorry for what?”

He sighed and then muttered, “Where to begin?”

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but I feel like you’re suddenly a brick house that’s talking in code.”

“That’s… a statement that’s hard to take the wrong way. First I’d have to figure out the meaning.”

I gave his arm a light shove, and he readjusted his grip on the steering wheel and lowered a hand to my knee. Immediately, I placed my hand over his, wanting to keep it there. Wanting it to mean we were good, in spite of sensing something was still off.

Evan took the exit after the sign that bragged about its attractions, and I wasn’t sure how to take the fact that 7-11 was listed alongside Stonewall Jackson’s house. Unless the 7-11 had a fossil of something besides ancient nachos inside, “attraction” seemed like a stretch.

As he pulled up in front of the lackluster convenience store with its signature orange, green, and red, I quickly unbuckled, my thoughts already on caffeinated beverages, king-sized candy bars, and possibly a donut if they didn’t look too old—everyone knew that calories didn’t count on road trips.

“Hey, Gwen?” His voice came out nice and deep, and the way he said my name sent a pleasant shiver across my skin.

I glanced at Evan. “Yeah?”

“Please don’t stop talking because I’m an idiot. I love listening to you talk. You could read a takeout menu for all I care, and I’d be hanging on every word.”

“Well, sure. I’m like that when it comes to talking about food, too.”

He laughed, then took my hand in his and held it to his chest. “In all seriousness, though. If we were in a church or at a funeral,I’d understand why you couldn’t talk, but I’d also be counting down the minutes until I could hear your voice again. This has already been my favorite road trip ever—was from the minute you climbed into the car. And I just… I want you to know that.”

I leaned toward him, testing where we were at, since we hadn’t kissed all morning.

He closed the few inches of space between us, and I fell into the kiss, my entire body relaxing. The pads of my fingertips brushed his jaw, the scrape of his whiskers comforting and revving at the same time. “Stick around, because when it comes to this road trip, the fun’s just getting started.”

FIFTEEN

“Oh, holy crappers,” Gwen said, which wasn’t a saying I’d heard before. I’d held the door open for an elderly couple who’d been going into the 7-11 as we’d been coming out, and in the five seconds I’d taken my eyes off her, something must’ve gone wrong.

A giant fountain drink and a slew of other snacks filled her hands, enough sugar and caffeine to give me diabetes and shift her chatter into turbo mode, and admittedly, I couldn’t wait for it to kick in. Her gaze was fixed on a spot on the ground, and a closer look revealed the sunglasses she’d had on earlier, now on the ground and twisted at a funny angle, the lenses in pieces on the sidewalk.

She gave me this half grimace, half sheepish smile. “I chose to save the food.”

---