That was the plan, but I want to treat her to a day off before the possible shit hits the invisible fan. “We’re due for a break. Doing it in person would be fun, don’t you think?”
Her eyes light up and set a spark to my pulse. “Just you and me?” she says, her tone that of a kid promised a trip to the candy store. “And I get to choose?”
“Sure, as long as we stick to the budget, you get to choose…within the boundaries of my design, of course.”
If it weren’t for the kitchen counter between us, I sense Georgiana would pull me straight into a hug.
“Your boundaries are going to be sorely tested today,” she says, but there’s a sweet smile curving her lips and it hovers right through breakfast.
My boundaries have been tested hourly these past few weeks and now I’ve set myself up for a road trip with her too. Two steps forward, one step back.
We eat and wash up. Then she disappears into her room, only to reappear in a gorgeous floral summer dress and some sandals. All I want to do is kiss her and forget about boundaries all together.
As soon as we hit the road in my truck, she turns on some country tunes and her foot taps to the beat. I glance at her. That smile is there. Just seeing her like this lightens the weight on me. Whenever I’m in Ashleigh Lake, thoughts and memories fill my heart’s pockets one pebble at a time, and towards the end, the weight becomes unbearable. Then, if I don’t get out and away, one of those terrors will leave me gasping, jolting awake in the night in a cold sweat, trembling, my scar scorching, and dead eyes still on me.
“Burlington is the other way, isn’t it?” Georgiana asks as I indicate to turn left instead of right.
I can’t fool her, and I brace myself. “Sure is,” I mutter. “Dunno what I’m thinking.”
I know exactly what I’m thinking. If I’m going to settle in Ashleigh Lake ever again, which is what I want deep down, I’m going to have to deal with taking the road to the right. Usually, I take the twenty-mile detour that avoids the blind curve of the accident, but with everything we need to do today, we can’t waste time. Especially not if Georgiana’s smile wavers under a frown.
With the indicator on to the right, I wait my turn and soon we are out of Ashleigh Lake and on the way to Burlington. I catch myself clutching the steering wheel tighter and tighter until the stretch passes and I almost gasp for air. I’ve been strangling the steering wheel, my knuckles white.
Uncle Bill and Aunt May never drove this way. Not with us in the car. Do Ethan and Liam ever drive it now that we’re all grown up? Does Hunter avoid this stretch of road too? We never talk about it. Maybe we should.
Maybe I’m ready to pick up my discussions with the shrink again.
“You okay?” Georgiana asks and I feel her gaze on me.
“Fine. Just a lot on my mind.”
“We should make a list of what we need. Actually, you know what, it’s in the Terms and Conditions of the competition. They list everything that must be included in the tiny house when it goes up for auction.”
Now she’s on her phone and opening those hundred and fifty pages of regulations. By the time we drive into Williston outside of Burlington, we’ve verbally gone over everything we need to buy, and she’s made notes on her phone as we went along.
I park the truck outside a discount department store and lean back for a moment. I made it.
Georgiana scans the storefront. “We’re shopping here?”
I nod, but she clamps a hand on my forearm and shakes her head. “No. Seriously, no.”
“We have a budget.”
She doesn’t let go. “But everybody else is going to shop there. We need to…we need to be different.”
Indeed. But. “Budget.” I pop open my door.
She reaches for her purse and with a deflated sigh, slides out of the truck.
I get out, round the truck and take hold of her hand to give it a comforting squeeze. “Let’s go see what they have and how far we can stretch the money before we hit downtown Burlington and all those expensive interior shops you really want to go to.” I let go of her hand, thinking how easy it would be to just hold on and get through this day, through tomorrow, and the looming weekend with her by my side. “Then we come back and buy what we’ve found here without going overboard.”
She tilts her head. “Sounds like a deal, but you keep track of the dollars and make sure we don’t overspend. That’s your superpower, not mine.”
Superpower…to hear that word from her, in that sweet voice, with that earnest light in her eyes, makes me only fall deeper.
I turn and head into the store and soon we’re trailing through the dinnerware aisle.
“This could work?” I suggest as I pick up a white china mug, plain and boring. Perfect. Most people would look past it, it’s so bland.