Chapter 4 #2
“I know. It was rhetorical because you don’t really get an option, anyway. We’re leaving this evening for Oklahoma. Go rent a car and bring Mindy with you. You’ll both need to pack for a week at a minimum. Meet me at home by six.”
“Her shift isn’t over until six.”
I can hear him huff in frustration as he tries to maintain his composure. “Yes, love. I already got that part handled. I have someone coming in to run the bar, permanently. We’ve got too much going on for you to be there like you need to. I hired a new manager, she’ll be there in ten minutes.”
“Okay. Any specific rental you want me to get? Do I need an SUV or is a car good enough?”
“A car will suffice. Get whatever you want, but make sure it’s got enough room for you two, plus your luggage, and a backseat would be ideal in the event someone else needs to ride with you while we’re there.”
“Got it. See you at six. Love you.”
“I love you, baby. Bye.”
He ends the call and I’m left smiling as I process the information I’ve been given.
“Hey, your shift is about to be over,” I tell Mindy.
She stares at me, confusion etched onto her face. “Umm..?”
“Cass hired a new manager. We’re going to leave here in a minute and go pack your bags for a week, go get a rental, then go to my house to pack for me.”
“Where are we going?”
“Oklahoma.”
“Hell yeah. Wait. Is it snowing there?” Mindy asks.
“Maybe?” I shrug.
“I want to make a snow angel!” she squeals, taking this in a direction I wasn’t expecting.
“If there’s snow on the ground, we will make it happen, I promise.”
I open my phone and check the weather in Oklahoma. I don’t know exactly what part we’re going to but if I had to guess, I’d say somewhere around Oklahoma City considering that’s where the charter is.
In Oklahoma City right now, it’s forty-six degrees and sunshining. There is a chance of snow this week though. Great, Mindy will be thrilled.
“You might get lucky while we’re there,” I tell her.
The front door to the bar opens and a short, pudgy lady in her mid-forties walks in.
She’s got short brown hair pulled into a small ponytail, her front teeth stick out a little further than the rest, and she looks cheery enough to be here.
As she gets closer, I see that her face is dotted with freckles across the bridge of her nose and covering her cheeks.
“Hi! I’m Kelly. I’m the new manager,” she says, stepping behind the bar and extending her hand to me.
“Hi, Kelly. It’s so nice to meet you. I’m Lilly, Cass’s fiancé, and this is Mindy.”
“It’s so nice to meet you both. I’ve got it from here. Lucy is coming in this evening to show me how you all like your paperwork done, so you can head out whenever you’re ready.”
She doesn’t have to tell me twice. I’m so far beyond ready to get this road trip on the road.
“Thank you! It was great to meet you. I’ll see you in a few weeks,” I tell her, grabbing Mindy’s arm and dragging her toward the door.
“Meet you at your place?” I ask.
Mindy nods and I follow her to the new house she and Linc are renting. I haven’t been here since they moved in last week and I’m pleasantly surprised by the area it’s in. It’s beautiful. There are a few oak trees in the front yard and it’s sitting on at least two acres of cleared land.
“Wow! This is gorgeous,” I tell her as I step out of my car. I follow her inside where she gives me a quick tour of the three bedroom, two bath home, showing me the baby’s room that has paint samples taped to the wall already.
“I think we’re going to make everything a neutral color. I’m leaning toward this pastel green, perfect for either a girl or boy,” she says, touching the paint sample nearest the doorway.
“I think no matter what you do it’ll be perfect and I can’t wait to see it. I’ll even help paint.”
“Maybe when we get back, we’ll really decide on a color, and we can have a baby room party. We’ll paint it and decorate it all in one.”
“We’ll be here. Now go pack!”
She gives me a salute and disappears into her closet, tossing multiple sweaters on the bed next to her suitcase. I begin folding them and place them neatly into her suitcase while waiting for the next set of items to come flying from the closet.
She tosses a handful of blue jeans next, then walks out with a handful of underwear. She pauses for a brief moment to smile at me as she notices what I’ve been doing before stuffing the underwear into a small pile between the sweaters and the jeans.
“Don’t forget socks. And your chaps if you’re planning on riding with Linc while we’re there,” I remind her and make a mental note to remember to get mine.
“Riding in the snow?” she scrunches her nose. “I don’t think I’m going to be down for that.”
“Snow may not be fun to ride in. I’m going to bring mine just in case, though. You should too!”
Reluctantly, she grabs her chaps from the closet and sets them beside the suitcase.
After she’s packed everything and we do one last sweep of the house to make sure she isn’t forgetting anything, we head into town to get a rental.
They stick me in a Nissan Sentra, but it’s brand new and rides a million times smoother than Betty.
I may have to trade in that Toyota for one of these.
I’ll decide once we drive it on a road trip; that’ll be the real test.
Once we get home from collecting the rental, I pack my bags along with Cass’s, then Mindy and I hangout until Cass arrives a few minutes before six o’clock. Six bikes rumble into my driveway and I’m curious to see who’s coming on this trip with us.
One by one, Cass, Clayton, Linc, Aaron, Digger, and Scott walk inside my house. They’re all wearing leather, rightfully so because it’s cold and it’s only going to get colder on this trip. Linc has a small duffel bag hanging over his shoulder and so does Aaron.
“Got room for two more bags?” Cass asks, pushing through the crowd of guys lingering near the backdoor.
“I think we can manage,” I say, smiling at him. His arms wrap around my waist, and he presses his lips to mine. Electricity sparks immediately and I’m wishing my house was not full of so many humans at this exact moment. My desires and urges will have to wait.
He eases away, rendering me breathless.
“Let’s get on the road, then!”
Everyone cheers while Cass and Linc grab the two bags sitting in the living room and load them into the car.
I already know that the plan is to follow them without being told.
The bikes rev up while Mindy and I put on our seatbelts.
She plugs her phone into the car screen and puts her library on shuffle.
It’s a good thing we have similar taste in music.
She looks at me and smiles big, kicking her feet. “We’re going on an adventure!” We take off down the highway, following the men that I love and respect most to the place where it all started. I can’t say that part of me isn’t fucking excited beyond reason to be in the town that Cass grew up in.
GPS says that we’re two hundred and some-odd miles into a six-hundred mile drive.
We’ve already stopped twice for the guys to refuel, take a break, get a drink and a snack, piss, and take a solid thirty minutes before getting back on the road.
The temperature outside is brisk and I’m grateful for being inside the car with the heater promptly blowing on my toes.
Mindy is leaned back taking a nap while I quietly jam to the low volume radio.
I love a good drive and I haven’t driven anywhere long distance since that first trip that started all of this.
It’s surreal, honestly, to see everything coming full-circle.
Here I am again, on a long road trip, with the man that I met then.
My fiancé. I guess sometimes life works in mysterious ways and there is no such thing as coincidence.