Page 60 of Goode Vibrations

“You’re here,” I said. “North. Way north.”

He swallowed hard, swirled coffee dregs at the bottom of his mug. “Yeah. I, uh, I got about two hours away and realized I’d fucked things up.”

My heart clenched, hope and fear competing. “How so?”

He didn’t answer immediately. Took a sip of his coffee but grimaced and set the mug down. “Ugh, it’s gone cold.” He was restless, shifting in the booth, tracing rapid swirling patterns on the chipped Formica tabletop. “With you.”

“How—” my voice broke; I cleared my throat. “How did you fuck things up with me, Errol?”

“I should’ve gone north.” A significant pause, his eyes meeting mine. “With you.”

“Errol—” I started, broke off when the waitress dropped off my food.

“Eat first.” He sat back, arm slung across the booth back.

But when I was done eating, we still hadn’t started talking. I was loathe to open up this Pandora’s box. Why had he come back? Fucked what up? We’d agreed to go our separate ways, mutually.

He paid for both our meals, and then we just sat in the booth, staring at each other. “Poppy, I…” he blew out a breath, scrubbed his face, pawed his hair backward. “You want to get out of here? With me, I mean. Drive a bit further together. We’ll go north.”

“Sure.” I hesitated, though. “But I’m confused as hell.”

“Me too.”

“You came back. Sort of.” I blinked at him. “Wait…how the hell did you know where I’d be stopping?”

He barked a laugh. “I didn’t. Spent the whole fuckin’ day looking for you, Pop. All up and down the area—Twenty-seven, Thirty-five, One-fifty-one, Sixty-one…all over. Dirt roads and side roads and two tracks and deer paths. Gave up, and here you are.”

“But did you come back…for me?”

He nodded. “I came back for you.”

“Why?”

He looked like he was wrestling with deep emotions, which was odd for him, to let me see the turmoil. “Let’s drive a bit first. I need a minute to figure out where to start.”

“You’ve been looking for me all day, but now that we’re back together,nowyou have to figure out where to start?”

He laughed. “Yeah, well…I’ve started the conversation in my head about a million different ways, but now I’m sat across from you, it’s all gone out of my head.”

It had only been part of a day. Twelve hours, even less. But it had felt like a lifetime without him.

I was pitifully glad to see him.

So glad it terrified me.

The hope I was feeling terrified me. Because…hope for what?

What did I hope was happening here?

We went to his van, and I made for the passenger seat.

“Actually,” Errol said, stopping me between the headlights. “Would you mind driving?”

“No,” I murmured. “Not at all.”

Behind the wheel, I pointed our headlights north, and he turned to stare out the window, lost in thought. I didn’t rush him. I had my window cracked, and the radio was off. The only sound was the wind through the window and the hum of our tires.

The small analog clock in the dashboard read well past two, almost three in the morning, and I found myself yawning.