“Probably the Dartmouth Motel or something.”

She scowls. “Too bad you can’t stay in the garage with me.”

I agree but keep it to myself.

“Sadie, I’d love to snack on you every night I’m there, but your Dad would want to kill me.”

“It fucking sucks. You guys aren’t even close to being real brothers, and my dad’s like ten years older than you. He’s more like a mentor than a best friend or brother.”

“We can try to make it sound better for ourselves, but we both know your father and something like this would crush him.”

She releases a heavy sigh and continues to drum her soft fingers on my hard body. This feels like heaven, or at the very least a vacation, and somehow I lucked out and went home with this red-headed bombshell.

“You’re right. Let’s figure things out on our way back. I have to be honest with you, Freddy. I don’t want only one night with you.” There’s conviction in her voice, firm and honest.

She has no idea how much I agree with her. But I have to keep it to myself. I can’t catch sincere feelings for her; nothing with too much depth. This must remain surface-level and disposable, although my natural hunger for her is so strong that my dick gets hard thinking about it.

“So why is there a bouquet of wildflowers in a coffee can tattooed on you?” she asks.

She’s referring to the story of my discovery. I clear my throat as her finger traces the curves of the wildflowers on my lower abdomen.

“When I turned eighteen, my parents gifted me answers about my biological mother.”

“Oh, wow, really? That’s pretty amazing.”

“Yes. It was something else.”

“Freddy, you were very lucky to get adopted.”

“Yeah, Sadie. I wish your dad had the chance to experience that.”

She kisses me gently on my chest in agreement.

“But I was abandoned. My mother had very bad postpartum, and it didn’t help that my dad was nowhere to be found. She was depressed and had no help. And she left me in front of a church with a bouquet of wildflowers in a coffee tin. I had a note pinned to me, and in it, my mother confessed how she was depressed and didn’t know what else to do.”

“That’s a beautiful way to keep your mother close, Freddy.”

“I suppose so. That’s a good way of looking at it.”

“I think so.”

I rub her back. Sooner than expected, I grew an urge to give her another round of good, deep loving.

When we arrive back in Hillpike, I drop Sadie off at the corner of the street where her best friend, Emily, lives. It’s near the center of the town where I remember only government workers or doctors could afford to live. I watch my sizzling redhead stroll down the block and wave at me before she opens the white picket fence of her friend’s home. I make my way to Dartmouth Motel, as I call Braxton.

“Yo! How was the wedding?” Braxton’s voice is free and happy.

“Not bad. Had a good time. I did see Courtney, and she informed me she’s getting married.”

“Fuck off! She’s really trying you, huh?”

“And that’s not it.”

“What the fuck now?”

“She’s threatening to move to Florida next year.”

“Well, we’re not gonna let that shit happen,” Braxton says.