Page 22 of Wish Lists and Road Trips

“You know, floats and boats, as opposed to hikes and spikes.”

“Spikes?”

“Mountains.” She drew a spikey landscape in the air with her finger.

“I . . . guess? My uncle has a camp on the lake. I used to spend a lot of time there.” Every good memory I had was set on that lake, the four of us—Alex and me, and our cousins. I hadn’t been in months.

“Hmm. I’d move back to Costa Rica, I think.”

“Funny thing, that. After the universe tried so hard to keep you there.”

She cocked her head at me with a sass I was starting to like. “Was that . . . was that a joke?”

I laughed and she clutched her chest. “My God. A laugh and a joke on the same day? It’s almost like you’re enjoying yourself just a teensy-tiny bit.”

“Don’t get it twisted,” I said, but I had to force my mouth straight. “My turn.”

I picked a card from the box and glanced at it, one eye still on the road.Oh, for fuck’s sake.I tried to put it back, but Brit caught my wrist.

“No cheating.”

I could feel her watching me, a challenge in her eyes. She talked a big game but I had a feeling, when it came down to it, Brit’s innocence extended past her lack of travel experience. I wasn’t above letting myself ponder the implications of that. “Okay. You asked for it. Name a sexual act you haven’t tried, but want to.”

Brit’s eyes went wide, a pink flush blooming across her cheeks and down her chest. Now I was really pondering it.

“Um. These are a little more intimate than I thought.”

“I’m not sure what you expected.” I pointed at the box.

She plucked the card from my fingers. “Okay, maybe this was a bad idea. Let’s stick to the platonic ones.”

Smirking, I picked three more cards, tossing them into the back seat. Finally, I found one that was remotely appropriate. “What’s the worst thing that’s ever happened to you?”

“Easy,” she said. She pulled her knees under her and sat up in her seat, hand over her heart. She looked like she was preparing to recite a Shakespearean tragedy. “When I was a little girl I had this stuffed rabbit, Floppy. He had white fur and his ears were made from some sort of wire. I would bend them in different poses to suit his mood.”

She used her index fingers to mimic bunny ears, posing them in different directions while she made faces—two fingers up for happy. One up, one down for confused. She bent both and pouted, looking sad. For some reason, I was mesmerized by this.

“Anyway, I brought him everywhere, dressed him in little outfits. He had an amazing wardrobe. He was my best friend. One day, my nanny—”

“Woah, you had a nanny?” I couldn’t help the incredulous noise I made. I might have been passed around a village of aunts and uncles during my mom’s worst bouts, but at least they were family.

“She was an au pair, actually. I had a few. Anyway, she took me on a bunch of errands, all over the city. I had Floppy when we left the house, and then I didn’t. I was devastated. I still think about it sometimes and my heart hurts imagining him in a ditch somewhere, wondering if I’d come back.” She narrowed her eyes. “What?”

Clearly I was doing a piss poor job at hiding my confusion. “Didn’t you just break up with your fiancé days before your wedding?”

“Oh, right.”

“I guess I just assumed that would be higher on the list than a stuffed animal gone missing.”

Her shoulders fell and she pulled her knees into her chest, wrapping them with her arms. “It wasn’t just a stuffed animal,” she muttered. “And besides, breaking up with Sean wasn’t the worst thing to happen to me. It was the best.”

Sean.I stored his name in my brain, already hating him more than I should for someone I’d never met. Her whole posture had changed when she said his name, like she’d wanted to curl into herself. It was the opposite of everything she’d shown me so far.

I hadn’t picked up that she was trying to confide in me on the plane. I’d just thought she was over-sharing like she did, and my heart sank a little, like I’d missed an opportunity. He’d obviously hurt her and the thought made my hands itch to break something.

Instead I reached across the console and tugged the end of her hair. “Why was it the best thing, Brit?”

She waved a hand at me as she stared out the window at the passing trees. “It’s a long story.”

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