Page 28 of Edge

“Car shopping isn’t easy. It can take a while to find the right one.”

“I don’t want to monopolize so much of your time.”

I waved my hand dismissively. “It’s fine. I knew what I was getting into when I offered to help.”

“It seems like we’ve been all over Cedar Valley. How many more used car places can there be?”

“Not many, but there’s still all the cars for sale by owner, and we can always look in areas nearby, like Croftridge. There might even be a police auction coming up.”

“Oh, no,” she said. “While I’m willing to drive around in almost anything with wheels, I draw the line at some drug dealer’s confiscated car. With my luck, one of his cronies would see me rolling around town in it and come after me.”

“My initial response was to say that wouldn’t happen, but you have had some pretty shitty luck lately. So, yeah, we’ll cross the police auction off the list,” I laughed.

We stopped at two more car lots before calling it a day. She was tired, and I didn’t think I could exchange fake pleasantries with one more salesperson without losing my shit. They were like mosquitoes at a bloodbath, flocking to us the moment we stepped out of my truck.

“You hungry?” I asked.

When she turned to me, I knew exactly what she was thinking by the look on her face.

“For fast-food. Something with a drive-thru. I don’t want to go in anywhere,” I clarified.

She exhaled in relief. “Then, yes. I could eat.”

“Taco Bell?”

She smiled broadly. “Yes, please. I love Taco Bell.”

We went through the drive-thru and ordered a ridiculous amount of food that we took back to her place to eat.

“I haven’t had Taco Bell in a long time. Please don’t judge me for how much I’m going to eat.”

I laughed. “No judgment here. I’m about to eat my weight in tacos.”

When she took a bite of a burrito and moaned in delight, I had to quickly look away before she caught me staring at her. The pure unadulterated pleasure on her face from something as simple as a fast-food burrito was one of the sexiest things I had ever seen.

“This is so good,” she said around a mouthful of food.

“Yes, it is,” I agreed and focused on my own food, so I didn’t stare at her and inadvertently make her self-conscious.

After we finished eating, I helped her clean off the table while trying to think of a reason to stay, because I wasn’t ready to leave.

“Do you want to look online and see if we can find some used cars to look at?” I asked.

“Sure, if you have time. I don’t want to keep you from anything.”

“You’re not,” I assured her and pointed toward the door. “I’m going to grab my tablet from the truck. I’ll be right back.”

“I don’t have Wi-Fi,” she said apologetically.

“Not a problem. We can use my phone as a hot spot, but I need a bigger screen to see what I’m looking at.”

She laughed. “I know what you mean. I have to squint and hold my phone at just the right angle if I want to read anything on the screen.”

When I returned with my tablet, we settled on the couch and started browsing through the classified ads. In order for both of us to see the screen, we had to sit so close together that we were touching from shoulders to thighs. It was awkward and uncomfortable. I tolerated it for as long as I could before I raised my arm and wrapped it around her shoulders. She automatically settled against my chest and continued scrolling through the listings as if it was the most natural thing in the world. She didn’t seem to notice the minor position change, and I didn’t point it out.

I’m not sure when it happened, or who was first, but at some point, we both fell asleep.

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