“How’d your day go?” I asked.
“Good. But I’m hungry,” Katie said.
“You wanna go change, or you wanna hit the road?” I asked.
“I’m fine with what I’m wearing unless we’re going somewhere fancy.”
“Pretty lady, I don’t do fancy. I do good. Come on, I got a great place to take us.”
I offered her my arm, and she took it with a smile. I led her out to my truck and opened her door for her, then helped her get inside. I was taking us across town to her favorite barbecue joint. Best damn pork barbecue in the fuckin’ city. But Katie never got over there much because it was a pretty far haul. Thirty-five minutes if you hit all the lights. And when you coupled their barbecue with the infamous tap beer they made in-house, you didn’t want to drive thirty-five minutes anywhere after that meal.
“Oh my gosh. I haven’t been here in years,” Katie said.
“Well I hope ya ain’t got your heart set on goin’ in, ‘cause we’re gettin’ our food to go,” I said.
“Why?”
“You’ll see,” I said with a grin.
I ran in to get our food and came out with that and a six-pack of their freshly-bottled tap beer. I stuck everything in the back and pulled away from the restaurant, heading out of town toward the country.
Then I slipped my hand into Katie’s and felt her grab onto it tightly.
“Come on, Andrew. Where are we going?” she asked.
“Just be patient. I promise you’ll like it.”
And like it she did.
We pulled into the yearly bonfire taking place that night, and her jaw hit the damn floorboard of the truck. I grinned as I slid out, then grabbed the food from the backseat. I whipped around to the back of the truck and grabbed a blanket I kept stored back there, then made my way to Katie and offered her my hand.
“Come on. Let’s go,” I said.
I led her through the crowd, and we found ourselves a nice patch of grass. I spread the blanket out so the two of us could sit down, then we each dove into our food. The stars were twinkling above us like they had all those years ago, and I smiled as I watched Katie’s body relax.
“Feelin’ a little better?” I asked.
“Much.”
“What had ya so flustered this mornin’?”
“I had a conversation with the girls that kept me up is all,” she said.
“Yikes. Whitney and Lizzie? No wonder. I can only imagine what they said.”
“It wasn’t bad. Just a lot. Life’s okay for now, but eventually I’ll have to find the path I wanna be on for the rest of it, or I’ll fall behind,” she said.
“Give yourself time to breathe, Katie. It’s only been a week since your life did a whole one-eighty. Let yourself enjoy this for a bit.”
“I know, I know. I’m just overthinkin’ things.”
The two of us ate our food in relative silence as the massive fire crackled in the background. It drew everyone away from us as we gathered up our trash, and I jogged over to a trash can to get rid of it. When I got back, Katie was handing me a beer. She had a fresh one to her lips as her throat bobbed with her swallows, and my eyes couldn’t rip away from the length of her neck.
I wanted to lean in and kiss that neck.
“You know what this reminds me of?” Katie asked.
“What?” I asked.