Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 114211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 571(@200wpm)___ 457(@250wpm)___ 381(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 571(@200wpm)___ 457(@250wpm)___ 381(@300wpm)
“They’ll come back—Pete, Bridger—they’ll come back for us.”
Those words always make me feel funny. Like they’re forcing me to acknowledge the giant pit of doubt in my stomach that’s convinced I may not ever see Bridger again, that he’ll figure out what he needs in life is in Kansas, that maybe I’ve been kidding myself thinking I might soon share a bed with Bridger again, that absence did not in fact make his heart grow fonder.
“Y-Yeah.” I fight that doubt in my stomach. “Of course they will, Juni. Fuck yeah.”
“Let’s throw them a big party,” she decides. “I’ll plan it. A real, real big party to welcome them back to Spruce. We’ll remind them of the happiness they found when they came here the first time. They won’t ever want to leave.”
The light that’s bursting in her eyes right now could make me believe just about anything. I put on a grin, even if just half of my heart’s in it. The other half’s waiting on a special boy in Kansas to make his mind up about getting his ass back down here to Texas.
26
BRIDGER
Pete parks the car and kicks his feet up on the dash.
I eye him. “Really?”
He’s already pretending to snore.
Only, unlike the hotel we just came from this morning, he has a contented smile on his face this time. That’s because when we ate our free breakfast, the overly-attentive server girl—same one as last time—actually chose to hit on him instead of me. She even said: “I remember you from last time, several months ago, right at the end of the summer, wasn’t it? Wondered if you’d even look twice at a gal like me.” And the gentleman that Pete is, he gave her a handsome smile, said, “Someday, a man will be really lucky to have you, but it isn’t me. See, a girl in a small town stole my heart away, and it’s hers to keep.”
To all of that, she scrunched up her eyes and said, “I wasn’t askin’ to marry you, just makin’ conversation and toppin’ off your juice,” before walking away, her outburst likely to save her pride.
Either way, it made Pete proud to turn her down.
His eyes are full of Juniper, through and through.
I enter the gas station—pristine from one corner to the other, no wet floor sign, no mop bucket with a ton of missed paper balls around it—and find Santa’s doppelganger Duncan at the counter. “$20 should do it,” I say with a smile, handing him the cash.
And when I crank the lever and pump the gas all on my own, I feel a funny sense of belonging I can’t quite describe. Instead of remembering Anthony’s scowl and pissing and cussing at me, all I can hear is his joyous laughter in my ears.
“Why does it feel like returning home?” I ask Pete when we’re back on the road, cutting through the hot yet breezy farmlands on our way to the heart of Spruce.
“Home?” Pete chuckles. “When you’ve been away from home long enough, doing your service, nothing quite feels like home to me anymore. Home’s wherever your heart is, that’s my belief.”
I smirk at him. “And where’s your heart?”
“Happy Trails, Unit 6,” he announces through a nervous grin, looking slightly unhinged.
I lift an eyebrow. “You alright there, Pete?”
“Of course I am. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Because your voice went way up just now, almost a squeak.”
“So? I squeak sometimes. Don’t I have a right to squeak?”
He comes to a sudden stop at the next intersection—a familiar intersection we’ve been stopped at before when Pete was on the verge of a breakdown over reuniting with Cody.
I sigh, already bored of it. “What’s going on, man? Spill.”
“I did something crazy. Lunatic crazy.”
“And what’s that?”
He takes a stiff, curt breath of air, then pops open the glove compartment in front of me and pulls out a small black box.
A small black box. “Holy fuck,” I exclaim, staring at it, without him even having to explain.
“Yeah,” he mutters, out of breath, holding it in his palm.
“Holy matrimony fuck.”
“I don’t know when I’m gonna do it. Or if I’m gonna do it. Or if I should wait and do it later, maybe before I leave, or not do it at all. Is it too soon? Bridge.” He grabs hold of my sleeve, startling me out of my daze. “I’m crazy about her. I’d do anything for her.”
“I get that.”
“Should I do it? Should I pop the question? Should I just leave this box stuffed away in this car and forget the thought even crept into my head?”
After another glance at the box, I gently take hold of his hand and release his grip from my sleeve. “Pete, you’ll know what to do when the time’s right. When you look in her eyes. With her again. Spending time with her. Feeling her out. You’ll know what to do.” I push the black box to his chest. “Trust your heart, man.”