Chapter 16
Wesley
I get out and a small laugh escapes me. “Addie, it’s just a day trip,” I remind her, opening the passenger door of my truck for her.
“I know,” she says, as if that means nothing, and shoves everything on the floor.
“Where you gonna put your feet?”
“That’s what your dash is for.” She smirks and climbs in. I stifle another laugh and shut the door after she gets settled.
I’m hauling a twenty-foot trailer behind me to pick up a new cattle chute. Since ours is older than I am, it’s time for an upgrade.
I was surprised and a little hesitant when she volunteered to accompany me to Billings, Montana.
Addison hates car rides, especially anything over an hour.
Why she volunteered for a seven-hour trip is beyond me.
I can’t help but think maybe things between her and Brantley aren’t good and she wants to get away from it all.
However, I’m not gonna ask. It’s not my business and we agreed I’d stay out of it.
So I am. I’m being a friend and helping her clear her head.
Getting onto the road, I glance at the clock, noting what time we left so I can see how long it takes. My dad’s gonna wanna know.
Addison rummages through the bag at her feet, using the screen light of her phone as a flashlight.
“Your parents were fine with this, right?” I ask.
“Why wouldn’t they be?”
“Just cause, like—”
The crackling of plastic stops me. I look over to see her diving into a bag of Doritos. I bite back a laugh. “Addie. It’s four in the morning.”
She crunches down on a handful. “So?”
I laugh. “I don’t know. Just…try not to make a mess.”
I just cleaned my truck out last night for her, but I won’t tell her that.
“I’m not, see?”
I watch her chomping away, the crumbs falling back in the bag. I just shake my head and smile.
* * *
Around 6 a.m., we stop at a gas station so I can fill up and hopefully be good for the rest of the drive out.
Addison unbuckles her seat belt. “I’m gonna pee and get a coffee, you want?” she asks.
“Yeah, coffee.” I pull a twenty-dollar bill from my wallet and hand it over.
She scrunches her eyebrows. “How many cups do you want?” She snorts.
“Just one, but use it to get whatever you want too—breakfast sandwich, bagel, whatever you want.”
“Do you want a breakfast sandwich?”
“Sure.” I slip out of my truck and watch her walk across the parking lot. The wind whistles. Addison gathers her brown hair in her hands and ties it up into a ponytail by the time she reaches the door.
I’m impressed with how well she’s doing with her anxiety and all. She said she took a Dramamine before I picked her up, so I guess that’s probably why she seems to be fine.
As I’m hanging the nozzle back up, I catch Addison’s blue sweatshirt coming back, her arms full of stuff. She’s got a coffee in each hand and a bag hanging off each of her wrists. The receipt is flying in the wind.
“Oh boy. What did you find?” I ask her. She sets the coffees on the bed rail, her face lit up like a Christmas tree as she digs through one of the bags.
“Wes,” she says, “they had blue Sour Patch Kids! Nowhere ever has the blue ones; it’s always green or yellow, which are disgusting. I got four bags!” she exclaims, heading to the cab.
She might be the easiest person to please. I mean, c’mon…have you ever seen anyone this stoked for blue candy? You’d have thought she just won the lottery.
I get back in my seat, start the truck up, and dial the heat on. Meanwhile, she hands me my breakfast sandwich. There go our fingers touching again for a millisecond. Lord help me.
I clear my throat. “Did you have any change left over? My guess is no,” I tease.
“Oh, yeah I do.” She sets our coffees in the cupholders and I watch her dig in her pocket.
“Here.” She extends her hand.
A single quarter and a dime fall in my palm. I stare at them, a grin tugging at the corner of my mouth. “Wow, a whole thirty-five cents. That’s really going to take me places.”
“Hmm,” she hums. “Well, there’s your quarter to call someone who cares.” She snickers, pulling on her seat belt. A laugh escapes me, watching her laugh at her Travis Tritt comeback.
That might be one of my favorite things about her. She’s got quick wit.
Forty-five more minutes pass. We ate our breakfast, drank our coffees, and now Addison is changing the music on me again. First, we listened to nineties country, then new country, and now I think she’s switching to country rock.
“Ooh! Have you ever heard this?” she asks and turns it up.
“I mean”—I laugh—“I’m hearing it now.” I can feel the bass in my chest.
“Guess who it is,” she quizzes me before the singer starts.
The very familiar voice of Kayce Warren fills the cab. “Very funny. Yes, I know who that is.”
She snickers and turns it down a little.
Blake’s sister, Wrenley, is married to Kayce. He gave up his career soon after they got married though. Wrenley and Sierra are best friends, having grown up together in Georgia.
I got the entire love story, courtesy of Addison, one night while I was working late. She got the lowdown from Sierra and then talked my ear off about it. I’m not complaining—I enjoy her company—but it was definitely not something I absolutely needed to be educated on.
“Do you think he’d sing at my wedding if I asked?” she asked.
“Kayce?”
“Yeah.”
“I mean, he doesn’t know you?”
“Well, he will in February!” she reminds me.
Caden turns two in February and they’re having a little birthday weekend celebration. Blake and Sierra’s parents are coming to visit, along with Kayce and Wrenley. Addison’s excited. She hasn’t shut up about it since she got the invite a few days ago.
“What song would you want him to sing? He doesn’t have a ton of love songs, does he? Aren’t they mostly about breakups?” I say.
“Well, he could write one.” She shrugs.
I let out a laugh I can’t contain. “You think he’s gonna write and perform a song just for your wedding?”
“No.” She snickers. “But I can dream, can’t I?”
“Yeah, but maybe just focus on the idea of even getting married first.” The words slip off my tongue before I can stop them. The shift in the cab makes me feel sick. My eyes flick to her. “I did not mean that to sound how it did.”
“I know.” Her eyes dim. “But you’re not wrong.”
“I just meant, figure out those details later, you know?”
Addison has always been on edge at the thought of marriage. She wants to get married one day and have a bunch of kids, but with her anxiety, she has a hard time seeing it play out. If I’m being honest, I do too. But I’d never admit that to her. That’s the last thing she needs.
She looks down at her hands, and other than the radio playing, the cab falls quiet quickly. Imagining her and Brantley getting married might be the scariest thing that’s ever crossed my mind.
“I already know I want to dance to ‘Forever to Me’ by Cole Swindell. Not as the first dance, but at some point.”
“Yeah? That’s a good song,” I agree, as the words slowly surface in my mind.
She picks up my phone. “I’m gonna play it.”
She turns up the volume as the music starts to play.
And suddenly, it’s the longest song ever. I feel itchy, sweaty, the air feels thicker, my heart starts to race.
I clear my throat. I can’t listen to the rest with her. It’ll kill me.
I reach to turn the volume down. “How long until Jesse and Ella have the baby?”
“Less than a month. She’s due the twenty-third, I think.”
“It’ll be an eventful Christmas for you all then.”
“Yeah, Ella’s hoping the baby comes early so she isn’t in the hospital over Christmas,” she says, and continues to talk about Jesse and Ella’s and their baby. I’m listening, but I’m more focused on the relief I feel from getting out of listening to the rest of that song with her.