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“Har-har-har,” he said, but he was pleased. She was teasing him back. This was going to be a great day.
“I’ll text you when I’m leaving the house. And we’ll get on with our date.” And our relationship, he thought, though that sounded like the sort of thing he shouldn’t say, because it would come out of his mouth weightier than he meant it.
“I’m looking forward to it.”
And there, behind all the uncertainty and teasing of the morning, was the sincerity he expected from Marsie. The one that he wanted around forever.
CHAPTER TWENTY
MARSIE TOSSED HER bag into the back seat of her car and slid into the passenger seat, sweatshirt on her lap and comfortable walking shoes on her feet. “I’ve not been in the passenger seat before. I don’t think I even rode in it when I test-drove the car.” She lifted up to look behind her. “I wonder if it’s comfortable back there. I’ve never sat there, either.”
She was rambling, but she was nervous. Normally, she could keep nervous rambles to herself, but with Jason, she didn’t even try. Wasn’t that what a relationship was supposed to be? That she didn’t have to try to not be herself? That she didn’t have to keep tight hold of every last particle associated with her body so that no one told her that she couldn’t do anything?
He shifted into Reverse, then looked at the back seat before looking out the rear window. “Looks a little cramped, but all back seats look a little cramped. My truck has jump seats, so yours looks luxurious in comparison.”
“There’s a back-up camera, you know.”
“I know. I’m not used to having one. Easier for me to use the mirrors.”
“Okay.”
She remained silent as he backed onto the road in front of her street and pulled forward. Off to their unknown destination. A thousand worries crashed against the rocks in her head. They couldn’t do this. They’d been friends too long. They hadn’t been friends long enough. They were too different. She was only imagining their differences, and this date wouldn’t be interesting.
She shifted around in her seat, pulling at the seat belt along her chest and neck, nervous that they’d set up their expectations for true love only to be disappointed when it didn’t happen immediately.
“So are you going to follow along on your phone and try to figure out where we’re going?” he asked lightly.
“No.” That sounded too sharp. She didn’t want to be sharp with Jason, at least not because she was nervous. Rambles were okay, but he didn’t deserve mean.
“No,” she said again, modulating her voice to hide her pointy nerves. “I decided to trust you. I’m not going to take that back now.”
As they turned onto the main road and Jason sped up toward the highway, Marsie let go of the seat belt. Then he put his hand on her thigh, and the fingers she hadn’t even realized she was fidgeting with calmed.
And Marsie knew that everything would be okay.
* * *
HER TRUST WAS feeling more confused than challenged as Jason steered the car off the highway, nearly two hours after they’d started out.
“Okay, where are we going?” she asked.
“No surprise anymore?” She appreciated how seriously he was asking the question. Trust was easier when she knew that he was listening and that he cared.
“I still want the surprise. I guess I should have asked back when we got off the freeway to get on 64. Which was a long time ago.”
He glanced over to her from the driver’s seat. The smile on his face made it all the way to his eyes and seemed to shoot right past, filling the car with his light mood. “I’m surprised that you didn’t. But glad. This will be down-home North Carolina. All day.”
She looked around at the small town they were driving through. It was small in the way Wyoming towns were small, a place where the population was counted in the hundreds, and it always seemed to be on the verge of either exploding with growth that no one understood or becoming a ghost town. Usually it felt like both were happening at the same time. Only eastern North Carolina was flat. No rolling hills here and no promise of them on the horizon. And the trees were different. The pines were tall and straight, with barely any greenery to see until your eye traveled way up to the top.
