Page 29 of On the Way to You
“So, did we trade places?” he tried again. “Is this payback for me being a prick yesterday?”
“At least you admit it,” I murmured.
Emery chuckled, cutting around a Honda. “So, it is payback. An eye for an eye, huh?”
“I’m allowed to have a bad day,” I said, facing him as I crossed my arms over my chest.
“I never said you weren’t,” he mused. He was watching me through the dark tint of his sunglasses with an amused smirk on his stupid face. “It’s just that you’re usually so… sunshiney.”
“Don’t act like you know me. You don’t.”
“Fair point,” Emery agreed, shifting his hands on the wheel. “Let’s change that. Tell me more about you.”
At that, I laughed. Full-on, head tilted back, deep from the belly laughed.
“You are so…. ugh!”
“Frustrating? Annoying? Unfairly charming?”
“Yes,” I grunted, and then I realized the last thing he said. “No!”
Emery laughed. “Just get it all out, Little Penny. You’ve been stewing for eight hours now, that pot has got to be ready to blow.”
Huffing, I turned in my seat, tucking my prosthetic leg up under my other knee so I could face him more. “Fine. You want to know what I’ve been thinking?”
He nodded.
“I’ve been thinking about how stupid I am. Not just for jumping in a car with a guy I don’t know and leaving literally everything behind other than my yoga mat and a few changes of clothes, but for doing so without making any kind of plan at all. I don’t have anywhere to stay in Washington, no job, no idea if I’ll even get into my dream school that I based this whole…” I paused, hands flitting around my face. “Hair-brained plan around. And, quite frankly,youmake me feel stupid, too.”
His brows pulled inward at that.
“Because for some unknown reason, I like you, and I want to know more about you, but yesterday you made me feel more like a nuisance than anything else. Not only did you not talk to me all day, but when you finally did, you put me down for wanting to find love in my life, like it was a naive fantasy for little girls. Then you left withEmily,” I added, throwing my hands up to stop him from saying anything when he opened his mouth to interrupt me. “And that’s fine, because you don’t owe me anything, and she was gorgeous and sweet and fun and I get it. You’re a guy, you… wanted to have a fun night. Fine. But I’m not like you, okay? I’ve never done this before.”
He watched me have a mental breakdown in his car, and I swear it was like he was seeing me for the first time.
“I’m not accustomed to sleeping in a room with the opposite sex, or driving across the country without a plan, or sharing this much space with someone whom I can’t tell if I annoy or intrigue. And it may sound stupid to you but I was worried last night. I didn’t know where you were, or if you were coming back to the room, or if I would have to somehow try to hunt down your body and find your phone and call your mom to tell her you were dead.”
My heart slipped into my stomach at that admission, because I knew it stemmed from reading his journal, from prying into his private life that he hadn’t invited me into.
I sighed. “And I don’t know, I just… I just feel stupid. I feel like a stupid little girl with stupid little dreams and a stupid little belief that life will turn out to be everything I’ve ever wanted it to be, because it sure as hell hasn’t been even anything remotely close up until this point.”
My chest deflated along with the hope I’d held onto for so long, and I sank into the seat, staring through the front windshield at the cars ahead of us.
Emery was still looking at me, his attention bouncing from the road to me and back again. He was quiet for a moment, then he cleared his throat, shifting in his seat.
“I’m sorry,” he said softly. “You’re not stupid. Sometimes I have bad days, and yesterday was one of them.” He swallowed, and my throat was tight again, his handwriting still fresh in my mind. “I can’t promise it won’t happen again, but I just want you to know it had nothing to do with you. You don’t annoy me.” He made sure to look at me again when he said that part. “And I’m an open book. So, what do you want to know? Ask me anything.”
“An open book,” I challenged, face flat. “Like the kind fromHarry Potterwith the teeth the size of my head inside?”
He laughed, the sound warming me from the inside out. “Careful, your nerd is showing.”
“I like my nerd.”
“So do I,” he answered quickly, and a blush creeped its way up my neck when he pushed his sunglasses up, his eyes connecting with mine.
I didn’t mind when he looked into my eyes. I didn’t mind it at all.
“Well, first thing’s first, what’s your phone number?”