CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Sunday Drive
Sunday afternoon was warm, clear, and almost too beautiful to spend indoors.
Ryan didn’t show for dinner.
Emily tossed Luke the truck keys.
“Drive?”
Luke caught them with a grin.
“I was hoping you’d ask.”
“Anywhere in mind?”
He shrugged.
“Not really.”
“The best kind of trip.”
Within minutes they were rolling down a quiet Oregon back road with the windows down and classic country music playing softly through the speakers.
Emily stretched her legs across the seat.
“I love days like this.”
Luke glanced over.
“No plans.”
“No schedule.”
“No work tomorrow until tomorrow.”
Luke smiled.
“I could get used to this.”
Emily laughed.
“You say that every Sunday.”
“And I mean it every Sunday.”
Fields of golden wheat rolled by on one side while horses grazed peacefully in green pastures on the other.
Emily watched them disappear behind the truck.
“Someday.”
Luke nodded.
“I know.”
“I can almost picture it.”
“So can I.”
About twenty minutes later Emily shifted in her seat.
Luke looked over and burst into laughter.
“No.”
Emily bit her lip.
“…Maybe.”
Luke shook his head dramatically.
“We’ve been driving twenty-two minutes.”
“I know.”
“You couldn’t even make it half an hour?”
She covered her face, laughing.
“I told you!”
Luke pointed to a highway sign.
“Good news.”
“What?”
“Rest area. One mile.”
Emily clapped once.
“My hero.”
Luke laughed.
“I swear, our road trips are measured in bathrooms instead of miles.”
She smiled.
“And yet you still keep taking me.”
“I always will.”
Back on the road, Emily opened a fresh bag of gummy bears.
Luke reached over.
She pulled the bag away.
“Oh no.”
“What?”
“You always steal the red ones.”
“They’re the best.”
“They’re my favorite.”
Luke looked offended.
“So we’re competing now?”
“We’ve always been competing.”
He finally managed to grab a handful.
Emily laughed.
“You got mostly green ones.”
Luke sighed dramatically.
“I’ve been betrayed.”
Later that afternoon they found themselves parked beside a quiet country road overlooking a wide valley.
The only sounds were birds singing and the breeze moving through the tall grass.
Emily rested her head against Luke’s shoulder while they stood beside the truck.
“You know what I want?”
Luke smiled.
“What?”
“A porch swing.”
“We’ve already agreed on that.”
“A really big one.”
“Bigger than necessary?”
“Much bigger.”
Luke laughed.
“Done.”
“And flower boxes.”
“Done.”
“And a red barn.”
“I was thinking dark green.”
Emily looked at him.
“If I had said green, you would have said red?”
Luke grinned.
“NO! I probably would have said blue.”
She laughed and slipped her hand into his.
As they started the drive home, Luke looked over at Emily.
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For getting me out of my head I don’t know what I would do without you watching over me.”
Emily smiled warmly.
“I was going to thank you for the same thing.”
Luke reached across the console and took her hand.
They didn’t need expensive vacations.
Or fancy restaurants.
Sometimes all they needed was an old pickup, a tank of gas, country roads, and each other.
Neither of them realized it yet, but these simple Sunday drives would become some of the memories they treasured most in the years ahead.