“What are you doing?”
I opened the door, jumped out, and walked around the front of the truck. I pulled the passenger door open and handed the keys to Liza. “You drive.”
She laughed, but her smiled quickly faded. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah. You drive.”
She folded her arms over her chest. “I don’t want to drive.”
I shrugged. “Neither do I.”
“Well, someone’s going to have to do it,” Liza said. She unbuckled and pushed me out of the way as she jumped out of the truck.
I turned and walked to the back of the truck. I pulled the tailgate down and jumped up to sit there. I could hear Liza mumbling something. I watched her as she tried to find a cell signal. After ten minutes of walking around with her phone in the air, Liza leaned against the passenger side door. I lay back in the truck bed.
“I’m not driving!” She yelled.
“Neither am I!” I yelled back.
I SAT UP when I heard a car horn. I looked at my watch. We’d been sitting on the side of the road for over an hour. Neither one of us had budged when it came to driving. Liza was sitting inside the truck when an older lady got out of her truck and approached us.
Liza got out of the truck and said, “Thank goodness you came by.”
The older lady looked at Liza and then me. “Are y’all broken down?”
I shook my head. I was a little dizzy from the sun. “No, ma’am. Just lost.”
She laughed. “I see. Well, where are you trying to get to?”
“McMurphy Ranch.” Liza and I said at the same time. We both slowly turned and looked at each other.
“McMurphy Ranch? You’re about an hour from there.”
“What?” I blurted.
“No,” Liza said. “Please don’t say that. We’ve been driving for hours. I mean, we just drove up from Texas, and my father made us head straight for the ranch. I fell asleep and we lost the GPS signal and this idiot just kept driving. Probably dreaming about Jessica.”
“Hey, you’re the one who’s always lost in thought. At least I’m not walking around pretending to be—”
“Stop. Both of you.” The older lady had her fingers on her temples. “My God. I haven’t heard this kind of arguing since my Harold died five years ago.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Liza said.
I took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. We’re tired and hungry.”
“I have cabins that I rent. I’m afraid they’re all full, but I do have a room that you’re more than welcome to stay in for the night. I’ll get you on the right road in the morning.”
I closed my eyes and turned around. Great. Just fucking great.
“Oh, that would be wonderful. Thank you so very much. Walker, isn’t that nice of…”
The older woman smiled. “Mrs. Jenkins.”
“Isn’t that nice of Mrs. Jenkins, Walker? To let us stay at her place?”
I glared at Liza. “No, Liza, it isn’t wonderful. I’m supposed to be at the McMurphy Ranch, looking at horses. I’m not supposed to be here.” I kicked a rock and yelled out. “I’m not supposed to be here! Motherfucker!”
Mrs. Jenkins gave me a polite smile. “I have a phone at my place. You’re more than welcome to use it. If you’d like to head to the ranch, I can show you the way, but you’ll be getting there after sundown. You can’t really look at horses in the dark.”
Liza stepped in between Mrs. Jenkins and me. “How far is your place? We’re very low on gas.”
She smiled at Liza. “I’m about three miles down the road. I have gas, so we can get you topped off enough to get you to the gas station. Now let’s get you off the side of the road. Can you follow me?”
Liza glared at me. “If you don’t mind, may I ride with you Mrs. Jenkins?”
I grabbed Liza’s arm. “Your dad would be pissed if I let you go off with a stranger.”
Her eyes searched my entire face before she looked me in the eye. “I’ve been with one for the last hour.”
I dropped her arm and she walked over to Mrs. Jenkins’ trucks and got in. I got in the truck, started it, and pulled out behind Mrs. Jenkins. I followed her almost exactly two miles to a long, paved driveway. The driveway itself must have been three miles long. As we drove, we passed dirt roads that branched off. Those must have led to the cabins Mrs. Jenkins had mentioned. Finally, we pulled up to a large house. There were two couples sitting on the front porch—one sitting on a swing and the other in rocking chairs. I put the truck in park and grabbed my bag and Liza’s from the backseat. As I made my way to the porch, Mrs. Jenkins was already introducing Liza to the two couples.
“We’re here for our honeymoon,” The lady on the swing said as she looked at the guy sitting next to her.
“Ten year anniversary for us,” The guy in the rocking chair said.
Liza smiled and reached her hand out. Mrs. Jenkins introduced me and after a few minutes of small talk we followed her into the house.
“I turned the house into a bed and breakfast after my husband died.” Mrs. Jenkins said as we entered the house. She walked around a counter and pulled down a key, which she handed to us. “Breakfast will be served at seven sharp. You have your own private bathroom, so you can clean up and get some sleep.”
I looked down at the key. “Do you have two rooms? I mean, we’ll pay of course.”
She frowned. “No, I only have the one. But there is a queen bed in there.” She winked and turned as she headed to the stairs. “Now follow me. I’ll show you to your room.”
As I followed Mrs. Jenkins and Liza—who looked like she was about to be sick—up the stairs, I couldn’t decide who was going to be more pissed about Liza and me sharing a room: Layton or Jessica.
MRS. JENKINS SHUT THE door as she smiled at Walker and me. We stood there staring at the door for way too long before we finally accepted our fate.
Walker seemed to be evaluating the room, same as me. There was no sofa, no other chairs. Nothing but a bed.
“I’ll just sleep on the floor.” He dropped the bags and walked through the bathroom door. “Do you mind if I take a shower first?”
I shook my head “no” as I sat down on the bed. I was tired. Hungry. Angry. Upset. And, most of all, confused. A part of me was happy that Walker and I were stuck here alone together. The other part was feeling guilty about this happiness.