“I’m . . . starving,” she said, finally lowering her camera. “How about you?”
“Yeah, I could eat.”
***
I guided her to an underpass directly beneath the bridge. Years later, there was still a diner there named Jerry’s and it was packed, but we were able to get the last booth in the middle of the crowd.
We ordered a couple of burgers and sodas and pretty much melted into the seats. It felt good to finally sit down.
We ate for a couple of minutes in silence, while I studied the people in the restaurant, wondering if I’d recognize any of them. The cook definitely looked the same but I hadn’t lived here for ten years, maybe twelve. Jessie definitely had drawn the crowd’s attention though. Not many girls around here looked like her. But she didn’t even seem to notice.
“That was a big day,” I said. “Who knew being an assistant to a photographer was such hard work?”
“Thanks for coming with me,” Jessie said with a small smile. “I would have been lost had it not been for you.”
Hearing the gratitude in her voice made me even gladder I’d made this decision to come. Even in its own way, returning here had been liberating. It was as if I’d released some of those dark memories into the wind.
“No problem,” I said, after stuffing a handful of fries in my mouth and washing them down with a Coke. “If we were going to be here longer I’d show you one last bridge.”
“Yeah?” she said, stopping midbite.
“But I think you’ve got plenty for your project already,” I said, recounting how much film she’d already used. “Don’t you?”
“Probably,” she said, shrugging. “But now you’ve got me intrigued.”
She ate her last bite and wiped her mouth. “Why don’t we just go to that last place now?”
My eyebrows lifted. “We can go if you want.”
My gaze darted to the window and I noticed it was already dusk.
“Damn, we’re losing light,” she said, zeroing in on the same thing. “Maybe I can get a night shot.”
We both left enough money on the table for the food and tip—because of course, she wouldn’t let me pay—and then walked outside.
Rounding the corner to her car, I noticed that her tire was low. “Shit, you must have driven over something on the back roads. I think you have a slow leak.”
“Oh no,” she said, dipping her head to get a closer look. “Probably these damn potholes in this stinking town.”
I bent down to inspect the tire. “This is going to suck to travel home on, pretty soon we’re going to be down to the rim.”
“You don’t think we’ll make it?” Her voice was laced with worry.
“You are a chick, aren’t you?” I said, to trying to lighten the mood. “It’s just not worth it to try. We could have a blowout on the freeway, and then plow headfirst into something.”
Her eyes momentarily widened in alarm and I held back a smirk at how cute she looked when her vulnerability showed through.
She bit her fingernail, mulling it over. “I have a spare tire in the trunk.”
I rounded the bumper to the bed of her truck before stopping and contemplating our options. “We can’t make it back on a donut tire. It’s too far.”
I looked around the streets, trying to remember where there was a maintenance garage in town. “You need a new tire, Blue, but every place around here is probably shut down for the night.”
She kicked at a rock on the ground. “Damn it. Have I told you how glad I am that you came and I’m not doing this alone?”
“I’m glad, too,” I said, feeling warmth travel through my chest. “Do you have a busy morning?”
I was going to have to cancel logging time at my uncle’s racetrack but suddenly, that didn’t sound as enticing to me anymore. It was better to be here with Jessie, keeping her safe.
“Just some studying,” she said, biting her lip. “Then work in the afternoon.”
“Let’s drive up the road to a service station,” I said. “If I’m right and they’re closed, then I think we’re going to have to spend the night.”
Chapter Eleven
Nate
“Do you know a cheap and decent motel around here?” Jessie asked, biting that damn lip and looking as nervous as I felt—but I wasn’t sure if it was for the same reasons.
“Yeah, probably,” I said, trying to reassure her. “We’ll get separate rooms.”
She looked off in the distance as if calculating something in her brain. I was choking on the thick air between us, so I decided to lighten the mood. “I mean, I know how much you want me to unleash the monster in my pants, but he’s such a cover hog, he’d need his own bed.”
My eyes flashed to hers and for a brief moment something burned red hot between us before her lips quirked up and we both dissolved into laughter.
“Square, I know you’re loaded and all with your fancy car and apartment,” she said, a worry line etched between her brow. “But renting a separate room would probably add over a hundred bucks each and I also need to pay for a new tire in the morning.”
She was pacing and cursing and biting her lower lip, completely stressing over this. I never had to worry about money. Only about being safe. It was the opposite for her. “No worries, Blue. It’s on me.”