Page 34 of On the Way to You
When the pictures were taken and the chaos died down, I stood on the chair again, thanking the crowd. They all wished us well, and when Emery helped me down from the chair, he didn’t say a word, but he watched me with a mixture of awe and hatred.
“You did great,” I tried, nudging him with my elbow. “Wear that t-shirt with pride.”
A short, almost silent laugh came from his lips, but his eyes were still on mine, something there that wasn’t before. “You’re something else, you know that?”
I blushed, hands reaching back to pull my hair over one shoulder. Before I could answer, the man in the Navy hat who’d started it all came up beside us.
“Thanks for a fun evening,” he said, his voice low and gravelly. “I’m John, by the way. I frequent this place, so if you ever come back through town again, make sure you stop in to say hi.”
Emery nodded, reaching out to shake John’s hand. “Will do, sir. Thanks again for supporting our crazy idea.”
He laughed. “You kids remind me of my younger days. This is the stuff life is made of. Don’t blink, or you’ll miss it, and wake up seventy-two and grumpy.”
Emery and I exchanged glances, sharing a smile between us before turning back to John. His eyes were old and kind, eyes that had seen more than we could even imagine.
“Thank you for your service, too, by the way,” I added, nodding to his hat.
“It was my honor. I actually wondered… did you serve, too?” His eyes fell to my prosthetic leg, the one hidden under my jeans, one obviously not hidden to him.
“Uh, no sir,” I stammered, face red again as I braided my hair with shaky fingers.
John’s brows furrowed. “Well, losing a limb isn’t something you should be ashamed of, my dear. You’re beautiful and you’ve got a good spirit about you. I don’t know what happened, but you should show that scar off with pride. Most people wouldn’t be such a ray of light after something like that.”
Emery was watching me now, and I felt his understanding click into place as John patted my shoulder with a strong hand.
“Take care, you two. Be safe.”
“We will,” Emery murmured, his eyes still on me. “Thank you again, John. Have a great night.”
I waved to John with my embarrassment still on full display as Emery guided us back out into the parking lot. The hotel we booked was connected, and we walked in silence most of the way. I was waiting for it, for the question, the pity, the new way he would look at me now that he knew. But when we were almost to the hotel, the teal doors connecting the rooms to the outside coming into view, he nudged me.
“I can’t believe you actually pulled that off.”
A small sigh left my lips, relief washing over me. Maybe he hadn’t picked up on it. “Me? You’re the one covered in wing sauce.”
He glanced down at his shirt, various stains still showing regardless of the bib he’d worn. He grinned. “Worth it. But I’ve decided that you owe me.”
“That’s fair,” I conceded with a laugh. “How much did the shop say it would cost to fix the tire?”
“After labor, we’re looking at just under four hundred dollars.”
It was my turn to smile. “Well, we raised a little over five, so it looks like we got the tire coveredandbreakfast.”
“You going to eat a hundred dollars of pancakes?” Emery challenged, one brow rising as we dipped around the back of the hotel toward our room.
“You doubt me?”
At that he laughed, looking at his shoes as his hands slid into his pockets again. “Not even a little bit.”
We were silent again as we walked toward the rooms at the back end of the hotel. Ours was down at the very end, the small pool directly in front of our door. I was pulling our key from my pocket when Emery stopped me, the feather-light touch of his hand finding my elbow.
“Would it make you feel better to make a plan for the trip?” he asked, golden eyes taking on a green hue from the blue reflection of the pool light.
I smiled. “Honestly? A little. Even if it’s just a rough plan of which cities we’ll hit along the way and when we’ll get there… especially since I need to find a place to live and a job.”
Emery nodded, and he was looking at me that same strange way, like I was something between a shooting star and a freak show. “Okay. We’ll make a plan tonight, then.”
“Okay,” I replied, and then I stifled a laugh, reaching up to thumb a smear of sauce off the side of his neck and showing it to him. “You’re a mess right now.”