24. Greta
24
Greta
No More Detours
I do a final sweep through my side of the duplex. It’s as empty as the day I moved in. Law honks his horn in the driveway, so I sit right down in the middle of the living room floor and take a few more moments to appreciate all the changes that happened here. Never thought I’d be leaving so soon.
Never expected anything at all about my time here to go the way that it did.
And the changes keep coming.
I climb up into the truck, and his exasperated expression morphs into a smile. “No regrets about selling your car?”
“Oh, yeah. I don’t know what I’ll do without the constant fear of where I’ll be stranded when it breaks down next.”
He leans over for a kiss. “We’ll get you into a new car as soon as we have an address to put on the paperwork.”
“We’ve got a long list of places to look at.”
“I don’t doubt that for a minute. You ready to put Agate Ridge, Texas in the rearview mirror?”
“I’m ready.”
Our last kiss on the driveway where we officially met lingers. I think we’re both feeling a little nostalgic about how this all got started. But it’s time.
“I’ll navigate,” I say, reaching for his phone mount and turning the screen toward me.
“No, thanks. I’ve seen your navigation skills.” He repositions his phone exactly like he had it before I got in. “You’ll have us missing all our exits.”
“I’ve only missed one exit in my entire life, and that was your fault.”
He puts the truck in reverse and backs away from our first shared address, where I was A and he was B, even though he got here before me. “The fact that you still believe I caused you to miss that exit is further proof you should not be trusted to navigate.”
“Hey, remember this?” I flip him off from the passenger seat.
“Aw, there’s that sweet girl who stole my heart on the interstate.”
“Says the insufferable ass who cut me off.”
“One last trip to Coffee and Cake?”
“You distract them while I steal the fake monstera.”
“Sorry, we’re on a schedule here. I don’t have time to bail you out of jail. You’re going to have to settle for caffeine and a slice of cake.”
“I can’t wait until we have our rambling old farmhouse fully restored, and I can fill it with plants.”
“You keep ignoring me when I say this, but we are not buying a fixer-upper.”
“Listen, I promise not to sleep with any of our contractors while you’re on tour.”
“Me going on tour at this stage is magical thinking, sweetheart.”
“Lucky for you, I’m really good at that.”
“You are definitely good.” He pulls my hand to his mouth and pretends to bite it before he kisses my fingers “And I know exactly how lucky I am.”
“Take me to Nashville, you road raging psychopath.”