Page 75 of Always Been You

I don’t think we even have pickles at home. I don’t think I’ve seen her eat one since we were kids.

“Are you on a pickle kick, like when we were kids?” Matt asks, raising an eyebrow.

“No, I just really want a pickle,” she says.

“I don’t think we have any, but we can run to the store if you want one,” I say, and a huge smile breaks across her face. “Really?” she asks. I nod and move to stand up.

“I’ll take her,” Matt says as he stands and I hand him my keys. Olivia goes to walk behind me toward her tent to grab her purse and I reach into my pocket and hand her my credit card, she tries to walk past me without taking it and I grab a hold of her wrist and put the card in her hand and pull her closer to me. “The code is 0515”, I whisper and I can see the moment that she understands the meaning of those numbers. Her birthday.

“Why don’t you grab some of those popsicles you like and some iced tea too,” I call as she and Matt make their way to the car.

Matt and Imake our way to the grocery store in Josh’s car. It’s close by as the island is very small and doesn’t have much. I sit in the front, watching the trees as we drive through the campground to the main road. I enjoy watching the nature and families enjoying the outdoors together, parents slathering their children in sunscreen, siblings chasing each other around, the sound of the squeals and giggles. I want that one day, going camping with my family, my kids playing with each other, running around, and giggling while I sit with a book and watch them.

“We haven’t had a lot of one-on-one time. I wanted to make sure that you’re doing okay. I know that Drew showing up at Mom and Dad’s a few weeks ago was a lot for you, but otherwise, are you doing okay?” Matt asks, breaking me from my people-watching and thoughts.

“Yeah, I think getting out of that relationship was best for me. Now that it’s done, I noticed that I had made changes in myselfto accommodate him, and now I’m back to myself. I’m happy again, like truly happy,” I say, not being able to keep the smile off my face as I think back over the last few months with Josh.

With Josh, I never have to think about changing the way I act. He loves and accepts me for who I am, and he doesn’t suggest that I should hit the gym more or that I should eat differently. He has tried to understand and enjoy my hobbies too. He doesn’t pick on me for reading romance books.

“I’m glad. You’ll let me know if you need anything, right?” he asks, glancing at me before looking back at the road.

I reach over and give his arm a reassuring squeeze. “Yeah Matt. I’ll let you know. Do you have any plans after the game on Tuesday?”

“No, what’s up?”

“Josh and I are going to grab dinner after the game and were hoping you’d join us.”

“Sounds good. Just let me know where.”

“I will. I don’t think we have settled on a place, but I’ll let you know.”

We pull into the grocery store parking lot, and I hop out and head inside for my pickles, as well as the popsicles and iced tea that Josh requested. I meet Matt up at the cash register. He has an arm full of snacks; I see him and shake my head. We are only here until tomorrow afternoon, so I’m not sure why all the snacks. I put my stuff on the belt, and Matt grabs a divider and puts his stuff up too. The cashier rings up all my items and I pay with Josh’s credit card. I can’t believe that his code is my birthday. Matt goes through and as soon as we are in the car, I pop open the jar of pickles and grab the first one I can get out and take a big bite of it, moaning as the acid and dill flavours hit my tongue.

“You really wanted that pickle,” Matt says with a chuckle. “Yeah,” I reply and finish my pickle as we make our way back to the campground.

When we pull back into the parking lot at the campground, we hop out and I take the bag with the popsicles and iced tea to Josh and hand him back his credit card.

“She didn’t even make it out of the parking lot before she had the pickles open. She’s on like her third one already,” Matt calls from behind me.

I turn and face him. “I really wanted pickles, and it could be worse,” I say.

Josh gives my hip a quick squeeze, “You’re alright, babe, don’t worry about it. How are you feeling, though?” I barely realize his slipup of calling me babe, but I don’t think anyone else caught it.

“I’m better, thanks.” I give him a smile before settling into a camping chair and grabbing a bottle of water.

The girls climb out of the tent, and we all make our way down to the water. We swim for a bit before we make our way back up to shower and settle in for dinner. We eat dinner while finishing the book.

“That wasn’t so bad, was it?” Zoey asks the guys when the book finishes.

“Top tier book boyfriend,” Hannah says. All the guys, including Josh, look at her with questioning looks.

“Book boyfriend?” Caleb asks, using a napkin to wipe his face.

“Yeah, a guy in a book that all girls wish he were real because of how amazing he is. We all have book boyfriend lists, some guys are listed as book husbands, and that’s a separate list,” I say.

“You all have lists?” Matt asks and all four of us respond with a nod and “Yeah”.

“Who is on your list?” Grayson asks.

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