Chapter 30
THE MORNING SUZY AND I leave for the road trip, the house erupts into chaos. It’s Saturday, though, which means chaos was our only destiny. Dad tried to kick the morning off with a big family breakfast, but he ended up burning the bacon so badly that it set off our smoke alarm. Jillian, seeing this as fate, used the time to chastise my family for eating meat, mainly using the argument “vegetables don’t burn like that.” When Julie gently reminded her that yes, they do, Jill stormed upstairs—cue her bedroom door slamming shut.
“I’ll go check on her,” Julie declared before trudging up the stairs after her twin. It was all a bit dramatic, but I’d expect nothing less from a Saturday.
“Do you have everything you need?” Mom asks. We are carrying my bags to the car, loading everything into the trunk. Across the lawn, Suzy and her parents do the same. My car is so full it might explode.
“Yes, Mom,” I say for the hundredth time. All I really packed was some clothing and all my skin- and hair-care products. I figure if there’s anything else I desperately need, I’ll just buy it along the way.
“You know the directions?” Dad chimes in.
“I have a phone with a built-in GPS.”
He shakes his head. “You can’t rely on that technology, Jackie. What if your phone dies?”
“Then I use the phone charger that I also brought,” I say.
My parents and I stand on the porch, huddled in the shade. It’s teetering on ninety degrees today, and I already have the AC going in the car.
“Let me grab you a map. Just in ca—”
Jill and Julie walk through the door. “Don’t give her a map, Dad,” Julie says.
“There’s no chance she’ll be able to read one,” Jillian adds. “You know how this younger generation is—”
“Okay, rude ,” I butt in.
The five of us stand together. I realize this will be the longest I’ve ever been away from home. Suzy and I calculated it’ll take us about four or five days to drive to California—since we plan on stopping at night—and then I have to do the drive back alone. Which is scary for a million different reasons, but I’m ready.
“Hey. We got you a gift.” Jillian pulls an envelope out of her pocket and hands it to me.
“It’s from both of us,” Julie adds.
“You guys didn’t have to do that.” I tear into the envelope and nearly die on the spot. They bought me a bumper sticker that reads Don’t Worry, My Driving Scares Me Too.
The four of them stand there cackling like they are some sort of comedic geniuses.
“It’s so everyone knows to leave a lot of room between their car and yours,” Julie says, snickering.
Jill laughs so hard she can barely get her words out. “Especially old people. We know you have a track record.”
“I barely nudg— You know what? I’m not defending myself anymore.” I hug my sisters, throwing an arm around each of them. “Thanks for this.”
“You’re welcome,” the say together.
“Text us when you get there,” Jill says.
Julie fails to hide her tears. “Text me at least once an hour. You promise?”
“I promise,” I say, smiling at the two of them.
I say my goodbyes, then meet Suzy at the end of the driveway. She’s loading her luggage into my car.
“My sisters got me a gift.” I peel the sticker off the paper and place it on my bumper.
Suzy immediately begins to laugh. “Shut up. That’s amazing.”
I close the trunk and turn to my best friend. I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that all we have left is these few days. “You ready?”
She nods, tears blooming in her eyes. “I think so.”
We face the house, staring up at our families waving at us.
“Should we go say goodbye to our parents one last time?” she asks, sniffling.
“Absolutely not.”
We pile into the car, wave back as I reverse out of the driveway, then cruise down the road.
“We’re still making that last stop, right?” Suzy asks as she sets up the Road Tripping playlist.
“Yes.” We need to stop by Monte’s so I can say goodbye to Wilson. We spent the entire last week hanging out every second of every day—well, every second neither of us was working. But even at Monte’s, we now seem to be joined at the hip. He even cleared out a drawer in his desk to fill with all my favorite snacks, Twix included.
I’m slowing down at a stop sign when I see a familiar white Lexus getting too close in my rearview. It’s speeding behind us, like it’s trying to—
“Oh my God. It’s Wilson!”
I notice him in the driver’s seat, waving frantically to get my attention.
Suzy shrieks. “Jackie, pull over!”
I turn the wheel so suddenly the car jerks to the side of the road. I park three feet from the curb, but I cut the engine and run outside anyway. Wilson does the same. We run toward each other, panting, out of breath, smiling like crazy.
“You were really going to leave without coming to say goodbye, huh?” He shouts as he draws near. His hair is a windblown mess. Why wouldn’t it be?
“We were driving to Monte’s right now! I was going to surprise you!”
He collides against me, wrapping me in his arms. “I told you about the cameras, Jackie. You can’t surprise me.”
Then he kisses me, and dammit, two weeks is way too long.
It still baffles me that Wilson—this person I used to deliberately try to get away from—has grown into the person who can always bring a smile to my face. The person who makes me the happiest. The person whose hand I always want to hold.
“Shouldn’t you be at work?” I ask, wrapping my arms around his neck, straightening his shirt collar.
“I should,” he says. “But I think they can manage for an hour. Shit, Jackie. I’m kind of going to miss you.”
“ Kind of ?”
He laughs. “I’m really going to miss you. When are you coming back?”
“September first,” I say. I think of all the things that will be waiting for me when I return. It floods my chest with warmth.
“Cool, cool. Sooooo— Got any plans September first?”
I hate the grin that overtakes my face. “I’m coming home. I just said that, Willy.”
He rolls his eyes. “I mean after that. At night. Like, after you’re home.”
I get such a kick out of annoying him. I’m not going to stop now. “Why do you ask?”
He brushes the hair out of my face. We are both fully aware that we are standing in the middle of the road, yet we make no effort to move.
“I want to take you on a date,” he says.
“Like a date you accidentally plan for me, or a real date this time?”
Wilson chuckles at the reminder. “A real date,” he says easily.
I lean into him. “Then I’ll see you September first.”
With his hands on the small of my back, Wilson tugs me right up to him. I try to memorize every part of this moment—the way his lips move against mine, how he smells, how his hair feels in my hands. It’s going to be the only thought running through my mind until I’m back here, in this town that has begun to grow on me, with these people who have grown on me, too.
We say our goodbyes, and I return to the car, where Suzy is twisted around in her seat, video camera out. She has this sly smile on her face, too. I know she got my entire exchange with Wilson on video. I don’t really mind. Hey, it might be kind of cool to look back on this footage someday.
We don’t say a word for a while. I drive through town, right past the Welcome to Ridgewood sign. When I see it in my rearview, I smile.
I can’t help but think this feels like a beginning. I’m not sure to what exactly, but the feeling is there all the same.
In the passenger seat, Suzy tinkers with the camera. “This documentary is going to kick ass,” she says.
“You think so?” I turn my head to glance at her.
“Oh yeah,” she says, her smile coming easy. “Your life is definitely a story worth telling.”