Page 84 of Cherry Picked
“Pull over,” Drew said suddenly.
“What?” I asked, glancing back at him in the middle row with a frown. “Why?”
“Because… because I said so,” he said firmly. “And old folks don’t need reasons. It’s the only silver lining to this aging business.”
“Smooth,” Webb murmured, shaking his head.
My phone buzzed, but Marco grabbed it from the cup holder before I could. “Ah, ah, ah. No texting and driving, Hawk Sunday.”
I pulled the SUV onto a small side road, tested the brakes carefully before coming to a complete stop, and threw it into Park.
“Now what?” I demanded.
“I… I left my glasses at the house,” Drew said after a minute. “We need to go back.”
I glanced in the rearview mirror. “They’re on your head, Uncle Drew.”
He reached up and felt the glasses in surprise. “Notthispair. This is my everyday pair. I need my lucky ones.”
“I’m not missing this vote. Marco can read anything you—”
“Dammit, Hawk. Stop arguing with me and go back to the house. We could have gotten them faster than it’s taking you to argue with me right now. There’s such a thing astoosassy, you know.”
I clenched my teeth and turned us around to head back to the house.
Once we got there, Drew took his sweet time finding his keys to unlock the door and an additional ten thousand years inside the house looking for his glasses. Meanwhile, everyone in the car waited in perfect silence, apart from the squeaking of my teeth as they ground together. Eventually, Em, Webb, Luke, and Marco’s phones all buzzed at the same time.
Something was up.
“If we missed the vote, I will literally murder all of you in your beds tonight,” I said between clenched teeth.
“I’m sure it’s fine!” Em called. “Gracie said we’re fine.”
Drew came racing out of the house, waving his phone in the air. “They’re preparing to vote! Let’s get going.”
I stared at him, my heart suddenly racing with the fear of missing it. Several deep breaths didn’t help. “If we miss this…” I snapped. Deep breaths be damned.
“Gracie said everyone’s already saying it’s going to pass without a problem. Stop stressing.” Em said, reading from her phone.
I reached for my phone to see if I’d gotten a similar message from Jack, but Marco slapped my hand away. “What did I say? Eyes on the road, Hawklet.”
Once we turned onto the road again, Drew reached up and plucked his lucky glasses from Marco’s shirt pocket.
“What the fuck?” I asked. “You had them this whole time?”
Marco simply shrugged.
By the time we got to town, I was annoyed as hell and selfishly grateful last night had been my official final night living at the farmhouse. Starting tonight, Jack and I were officially living together, meaning change of address forms for me and all-new hiding places for my Girl Scout cookies. I couldn’t wait. And I hoped he’d be willing to cut out from the post-vote party early so we could have our own little celebration because I knew just how I wanted to celebrate.
Jack and I had made good on our plan to have sex in every room and closet of his (our!)big yellow Victorian, save one—the little room he’d added onto the back of the house last spring, the one we’d jokingly called the “ravishing room.”
Somehow, in a feat of carpentry only die-hard DIYers like my beloved and I could accomplish, when Jack had installed the door, he’d done it so the knob only opened from the inside, panic-room style. It had been stuck firmly shut ever since. But earlier today, Jack had texted that in a burst of nervous, pre-vote energy, he’d finally replaced the whole doorframe, and we could finally get inside, which felt symbolic somehow.
I couldn’t wait to decorate the space. But first… there would be ravishing.
“Park here,” Drew barked, shocking me out of my sultry daydream. “There won’t be room any closer now that we’re late.”
Instead of reminding him whose fault it was we were late, I did as he asked and took the first spot I saw. When I hopped out and followed my family down the sidewalk toward town hall, there wasn’t a single soul to be seen on the street or even loitering outside. We were very definitely late. I tried to suck in a calming breath…
