Page 27 of Finding Forever

He kept his eyes on the road.

She listened to the hard-driving rock song for another few seconds. “I wouldn’t have guessed that you’d like listening to this sort of music.”

Dave frowned. “What did you think I’d listen to?”

She considered the question. “Country.”

He looked offended. “Why?”

“I don’t know,” Beth told him easily. “You drive a truck. You own more plaid shirts than anyone I’ve ever met, and you like fried chicken and green beans.”

“Those things aren’t connected.”

“They might be.”

Dave sat back in his seat. “Just for the record, I like some country music, but this is better.” He turned up the volume.

Beth laughed. “How old are you?”

“Old enough to listen to whatever I want.”

“Apparently.”

The song changed, and she recognized it immediately. “Oh, I love this one.” Beth reached across and turned the volume higher.

Twenty minutes later, they’d established that Dave’s taste in music wasn’t as bad as Beth had first thought. She knew almost every word to half the songs they’d listened to, and the rest didn’t make her cringe.

Singing together at the top of their lungs was ridiculous.

It was also fun.

“When was the last time you went on a road trip?” Dave asked between songs.

That was easy. Without hesitation, Beth said, “Kayla and I went to Glacier National Park three years ago. It was just before she started culinary school. What about you?”

Dave was silent for a few seconds. “I drove to Lethbridge, Alberta, for a friend’s wedding five years ago. On the way home, I drove back through the Rockies.”

Beth hadn’t been to the Rocky Mountains in years. “Kayla was about ten when Jessie and I took her to the Rockies. It was an amazing vacation. Have you been anywhere else since your friend’s wedding?”

“I’ve driven to different places. Just not on a road trip.”

Beth frowned. “There’s a difference?”

“Completely. A road trip requires bad coffee, a wrong turn, and an argument about where to eat. Which leads to the main difference. You have to go with at least one other person.”

Beth held up her cup. “The coffee is good.”

Dave grinned. “So, we’re already doing it wrong.”

“And we haven’t taken a wrong turn,” Beth added.

Dave pointed to his dashboard. “That’s because I have a navigation system that makes it impossible to get lost.”

Beth placed her empty coffee cup in the cup holder. “That’s what men always say ten minutes before they admit they’re going around in circles.”

Dave laughed, and Beth couldn’t help smiling with him. She turned her attention back to the road, but the warmth of the moment stayed with her.

That seemed to happen a lot around Dave. She noticed his smile, the easy sound of his laughter, the way he glanced at her when she said something he hadn’t expected. None of it should have mattered as much as it did.