Page 53 of Without You

Uh oh. I know the LOL tacked on the end isn’t her laughing at all. Girl code means she’s actually scared that’s the truth but is playing it off otherwise.

Me: Get that shit outta your head right now. Trust me when I say I want you here but he’s got ideas of mudding and looking at land.

Katie: Mudding? For real?Land? Like… to move here? I have so many questions!

Me: Apparently a cabin so he can hunt. I don’t know. He’s like a little kid all excited.

Katie: I take it he likes the truck then?

Me: Understatement, I think. I’ll tell you everything when I’m done here. Can I stop up?

We come to the stoplight and I look over at Chase to see he’s busy messing with the radio and not paying attention to me. I also decide to remind Katie that I’m into this with her and even when my option is to spend the evening with a famous country singer, I’d prefer to be doing nothing with her. Or a lot of something. One or the other, I’m not picky.

Me: I really wanted to see you tonight.

Katie: Aww. You miss me! Of course you can stop up. I’ll probably zonk out around 9 though. **snoozing emoji**

Me: Zonk out, huh? That’s something my grandmother used to say.

Katie: I met her once. She was hilarious.

Me: I’ll try to be there before 9. Have a good night.

Katie: You, too.

I put my phone down and point. “There’s Murphy’s on the left. Just flip a U-ey and pull in.”

He chuckles. “If I did this in Nashville, I’d probably get tossed in jail.”

“Small town life,” I explain with a shrug. “Speaking of, do you want to come inside or want me to go order? It doesn’t look busy but I can’t guarantee that people won’t recognize you.”

He cringes just slightly. “You mind? Kind of enjoying the solitude for a bit.”

“Wouldn’t have offered if I minded. What do you want?”

“I’ll keep it simple with a cheeseburger and fries. Coke, too.”

“You good with bringing food in this thing?”

He makes a face. “Fuck. I didn’t even think of that.”

“There’s a cooler in the floorboard. We can put the food in there and eat on the tailgate when we get out to the spot I’m thinking of.”

He looks in the back seat. “You’re fucking brilliant. There’s a cooler in the floorboard? How did I not know that?”

“Haven’t shown you everything yet. But that’s not me. That’s something Dodge did.”

“I might marry this truck,” he says.

“Write a song about it,” I joke as I get out. “Be back in five. They’re usually pretty quick.”

“Definitely moving here,” he murmurs.

The bell above the door chimes when I walk through the door to Murphy’s. Estelle, Murphy Junior’s wife — Murphy Senior opened up the joint in the 60s and Murphy Junior took over and the way I hear it, Murphy III will be taking it over soon — looks up with a welcoming smile.

“Hey there, Brody. What can I get ya?”

“Keeping it simple tonight, Estelle. Two double cheeseburgers with everything and fries. Two Cokes. And an order of onion rings and some mozzarella sticks.”

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