Page 23 of Hunt for the Roses
Aria seems genuinely concerned as she looks at me. “What?”
“I should have you know that feelings of nausea or other stomach issues won’t be well received in my Mustang.”
Aria looks up at me through squinted eyes. “This is my ‘homecoming’ welcome? Letting me know you’re not putting your car at risk if I happen to get sick?”
“Okay, first off, I welcomed you home on Sunday. Second, she’s a GT Three Fifty,” I counter.
“Is she?” Aria says with a bored expression. “Well, thankfully, I wasn’t referring to throwing up orstomach issues.”
“Then what are we talking about?”
Aria throws her head back with a chuckle as she starts walking again, and I step in line with her at her side. “I was referring to eating like crap and cheating on my own diet.” Then she turns her head to look up at me and pats my shoulder. “Your car is safe around me, Dane. Don’t worry.”
I turn my head forward. “Ah, got it.” A few seconds pass by before we reach the end of the line at the beer tent, and I turn to look at Aria as I shrug and say, “For the record, it’s not like I’d kick you out of my Mustang and make you walk home.”
Aria raises her eyebrows in surprise at me. “No?”
I shrug playfully. “I mean, I may call you an Uber or-”
“Hey!” Aria says.
I laugh as I put my arm around Aria’s shoulders and pull her close to my side. “Come on, you know I’m kidding.”
Aria looks up at me knowingly. “The thought of me throwing up in your precious car?
You’reat leasthalf serious.”
I slightly scrunch my face in discomfort as I look off to the side. “God, just thinking about it makes me uneasy.”
“Yeah, exactly,” Aria says with a chuckle.
I laugh with her as I remove my arm from around her shoulders and place my hands in my jeans pockets. Eventually, I turn to look back at Aria’s side profile, and just think for a few seconds. I know she knows I’m kidding with her and we’re having a fun time joking, but after everything she’s been through, I want to say something meaningful. For whatever it’s worth.
“But I think I could get over it quickly,” I say, and then slowly stretch a genuine smile across my face to let Aria know that with all kidding aside, she can rely on me to be there for her. I know we’re talking about a specific scenario, but when Aria returns a smile, I know she knows what I’m trying to say.
When we turn our heads to read the beer list, Aria asks, “So what are you getting?”
“I’m between the IPA and the sour they have on tap.”
“I didn’t even see the sour. Okay, decision made,” Aria says.
“Is that what I’m ordering for you?” I ask.
“Sure, just let me know how much I owe you.”
I start reaching for my wallet in my back pocket just as the person in front of us finishes their order. “You would owe me nothing.”
“Dane, no,” Aria chimes in.
Just as Aria tries to fight me on paying for her beer, the counter is vacant for me to walk up to, and I order all of our beers. Aria stands beside me and waits until I’m done talking to the person at the counter to try and slip me money. I hold my palm out to resist her attempt, and luckily enough, the beers are poured fast enough that we can scatter away before she becomes relentless. I grab mine and Trent’s beer, while Aria grabs hers and Kate’s, and then we walk off to the side to make room for the people behind us.
When we stop, Aria places one beer on the ground and holds her money out to me. “Dane, please just take it.”
“Okay, Ari, there are two things very wrong with this scenario. One, your efforts are pointless. Two, there may be people watching this display who think I can’t pay for some girl’s cheap beer.”
Aria sighs as she tucks her money away in her back pocket, and then bends to pick up the beer cup she placed on the ground. “Well, thank you,” Aria says as she stands back up.
I smile as I raise my cup to tap hers. “Welcome home.”
