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“It’s a long drive, and my night vision sucks these days.”
“Seriously,” she said. “Mine too.”
“Same here,” Madigan concurred. “Like driving with Vaseline on my windshield.”
Accepting a hug from Ashley, warmed briefly by the blanket she’d wrapped around his shoulders, Cole said, “Have an amazing honeymoon, and take care of him for me,” into her ear.
“Always,” she replied. “But before you go, you’d better go see—”
“Davis,” he said, a hand raised. “I’m on my way.”
* * *
After stoppingby the kitchen to say goodbye to Maude Alice, Cole made his way down the hall to Davis’s room. When he rapped his knuckles on her door, it started to swing open. “Davis?” he said, holding the knob with one hand to keep the door closed while he knocked again with the other. “You up? It’s Cole.”
“Are you leaving?” she asked. There was gravel in her voice, like she hadn’t slept at all. “You can come in.”
When he pushed the door open, he found her sitting on the edge of her bed, staring out through her window. Her room was so clean it bordered on unlived-in, her pale-yellow walls bare except for a mirror above her dresser, a blue ribbon with a mountain bike on it, and a single picture where she stood in front of Old Faithful, smiling with an older man who must have been her late grandfather. If she had lived fully in this room once, sprawling out to claim every corner the way teenagers did, she certainly didn’t now. This was the room of someone who wasn’t sure they were staying.
She’d seemed so much happier last night, snapping pictures, laughing, dancing with everyone and anyone, even dancing with Kev for a song. Cole had hoped it meant they’d turned a corner, but maybe there was only so much one dance could do.
“You okay?” he asked, stepping into the hollowed-out room to sit next to her on the bed.
“Oh, yeah.” The smile she gave him was as forced as his sophomore yearbook picture. “I’m good. Probably just stayed up too late.”
“I haven’t stayed up that late since 1996.”
She laughed, then turned to him, her expression brightening. “Hey, what if I came out to Seattle sometime? You could show me around, introduce me to Becks?”
“I would love that,” he told her. “Anytime.”
“Maybe I could even convince Mira to come with me.”
At the wink in her tone, he nudged her shoulder with his. “I wouldn’t complain about it.”
“You two were cute together. You seemed so”—the light dimmed through her curtains—“happy.”
The opening was there. He could ask her about Kev now, let her know he was here for her, just to listen if nothing else. And he would have, but she turned away, tucking her hair behind her ear and clearing her throat before he had the chance. “It’s supposed to rain today,” she said. “Drive safely.”
“Always do. That’s why I have a Volvo, even ifsomepeople think they’re not sexy,” he mumbled, mostly to himself.
She patted his hand, consoling. “Not just some people, Cole. All people. All people think Volvos aren’t sexy.”
He laughed at that. “Keep in touch, Davis. You have my number. I’m always around.” Making sure to catch her stare, he said, “Always. For anything, okay?”
Unsurprisingly, she ducked right, then hooked left with “Are you going to see Mira on your way out of town?”
“Have to.” He rose to his feet, tugged the hem of his lucky hoodie down, and winked. “She wore my coat home last night.”
Davis made apuhsound. “That move’s as old as you are.”
“Classic, Davis. The word you’re looking for to describe me, and my moves, isclassic.”
Pushing up from the bed, she gave him a quick hug and said, “I stand corrected.”
* * *
BlaringAmyl and the Sniffers on his way down the mountain, Cole turned on the heat as the sky above him darkened, heavy clouds rolling in over the treetops. Pausing the music to ask his Bluetooth to call Mira, he waited, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel, pinning his lower lip between his teeth while the phone rang through his speakers.
