Page 71 of Infinite as They Come
“So,” he said, squeezing my hands a little tighter, “I know the trip part of this road trip hasn’t exactly been happening. This was meant to be for you. To celebrate all that hard work you did.”
“I’ve been having fun here with you,” I said. “Every place is good with you, Sawyer.”
His lips pressed together, eyes fused to mine when I said that. “I feel the same way, honey. But still, we were supposed toseeplaces, right?”
“We were. Technically, that’s what you’re meant to do on a road trip.”
“Exactly. So, how about we take a little drive tomorrow? You ever beento Bartlett? It’s an hour away from here.”
Tongue clicking, I tried to see if the name rung a bell. “Nope. Never heard of it.”
“Let’s go,” he said, voice low and serious. “Tomorrow. Lots of pretty views there. Lots of… stuff.”
“Stuff…” I raised an eyebrow. There was that word again. But all I wanted was some time with him, so I accepted his vague response with a shrug. “That sounds good to me. Let’s do it.”
He smiled, raising both of my hands to his mouth. He kissed either one, giving them a peck each, his green eyes not leaving mine. “Great. I can’t wait.”
“Aw, look at you two lovebirds.”
Looking over to my right, I saw Clara standing there, a teasing smile on her face. Little notepad in hand, she tapped her pen against it.
“You guys are too sweet,” she said, giving her head a shake. “What can I get for you?”
We both glanced at the menu, but I had been spending so many of my days at the place that I knew a bunch of the meals off by heart already. I ordered some chips and salsa and Sawyer got the chicken wings, and Clara gave us a little wave of her fingers as she took off to the next booth.
“So, what’s so special about this Bartlett place?” I asked. “How’d you even hear about it?”
“Uh…” He frowned. “Just saw it online. I don’t know. It just kinda stuck with me. Maybe we could walk around the place tomorrow? You know, check it out. I could bring my painting stuff with me and we could do some of that.”
There it was. That was what I had been missing. Just me and him together, doing those simple things that made being in love with him so special and perfect.
“Let’s do that,” I said, a big smile tugging at my lips. “Sounds like a really lovely day.”
A buzzing hit my ears, and I only realized then that Sawyer had his phone on the table. Most of the time it was stuffed into his pocket. A lot of thetime he usually forgot it in the truck. Sawyer wasn’t the kind of person who needed to be on his phone all the time. Until this whole road trip thing started, I rarely saw him on it. It was one of the things I loved most about him. That we could talk and get lost in each other without anything in the way. I could feel his fingers twitching against mine, though. Flexing. Stretching out. Like he was resisting the urge to grab it. Someone was calling, and the way his eyes drifted over to the phone told me he wanted to answer.
“You can pick it up,” I murmured.
Leaning over, he pressed the quickest of kisses to my lips. “This will take five minutes, princess, I promise.”
Just like that, he was out the door. I blew out a puff of air, watching him through the window as he paced up and down the parking lot, phone glued to his ear. My nails tapped against the table as I forced myself to just feel the moment. He’d be back soon, and we’d eat dinner together. We’d talk all about this Bartlett place, about what was there, what we’d see, what he’d paint. He’d tease me about my terrible art skills and brush his fingers against my hand and we’d enjoy the night. Except Clara was waltzing over with our food in her hands, setting the plates down in front of me with a grin.
“Where’s Romeo gone?” she asked. “Don’t tell me he’s ditched you already.”
“He should be…” But as I looked out of the window, he was still deep in that conversation. I wondered if it was his mom, if everything was okay. “He should be back soon.”
Clara hummed, following my gaze. “Business call, right?”
“Something like that,” I mumbled.
“Don’t worry about him. I’m sure it’s nothing.” She gave my shoulder a pat. “I’ll bring you some drinks. Free soda coming your way.”
Foot tapping against the floor, I watched as a five minute call turn into a ten minute one, then a fifteen minute one, and then I started digging into the chips. I hadn’t eaten all day, and it seemed like Sawyer wasn’t making an appearance anytime soon. I sipped on the free soda Clara brought over and munched on one of Sawyer’s chicken wings that looked too good to resist, watching the smiling faces of all the other customers at the same time. Atleast they were happy.
Almost half an hour later, Sawyer finally came back to the booth, sitting down with a huff. “I’m sorry,” he said, pushing his hands through his hair. “Didn’t think that call would take that long.”
I found myself pressing my lips together. Maybe it was his mom and they had some uncomfortable, awkward conversation he wasn’t ready to share with me yet.
“Is everything okay?” I asked.
