My cheeksburnas Joel's attention swings to me.
From Joel’s sparkling eyes and his twitching mouth, he’s fighting for his life to contain his smile. “Is that right?”
“Ben,” I say mildly.
A few miles away, nausea hit hard, forcing us off the road. I hunted down the closest town to get water to clean the sick off my shoes and find a place to stay for the night. I got us checked into a motel down the street, and since our room wasn’t ready yet and Ben was hungry, we headed out for food at a place called Nico’s.
Ben blinks innocently at me. “You’re that same funny green color. Joel might need to get out of the way. If you throw up on him, he might not show me his truck.”
He sounds so genuinely terrified he’ll miss out on a lifelong dream that I can’t help but smile. No one can prepare you for the blunt honesty of a five-year-old. If they tell you they can, they’re lying to you.
Joel chokes on a laugh, turning it into a cough. “I would not change my mind about the fire truck. Sick or no sick.” The smile fades from his eyes as he looks at me. “But you’re okay now?”
“Fine,” I say, as if my stomach isn’t gurgling right this second, a sign that another bathroom break is imminent.
Joel slowly nods, tilting his head to the side as if he smells my lie. He’s distracted when Lina hurries over with Ben’s burger and fries. Nothing for me. I’m just trying to get by on plain water.
“You sure you don’t want anything, honey?” Lina asks me as Ben digs into his meal, the smell turning my stomach.
One glance at the ketchup on Ben’s plate has me swallowing hard. “No, thanks.”
“Well, I’ll leave you to it. Just shout if you need anything, Rose.” Joel scoots to the side of the booth and gets to his feet with a smile as Lina moves to another table when a man lifts his arm to get her attention.
“Sure.” It takes everything I have not to stare at how much bigger he is out of the booth. Easily six-three and not a hint of softness to be found anywhere on him.
With a grin at me and a wave at Ben, he walks toward the red stools at the front counter. His combat pants are navy, and the back of his navy shirt has ‘Rios Fire’ in yellow lettering, more proof that he really is who he said he was.
Lina soon returns, thankfully distracting me. I shouldnotbe staring at Joel’s ass. I should be grieving Simon and focusing all my attention on my son.
“He wasn’t lying,” Lina says.
I wrinkle my nose. “Who wasn’t lying?”
“Joel.” Lina glances at Joel, who’s sitting on one of the red stools at the counter, while a tall, dark-haired man rests his elbows on the kitchen hatch, talking to him. “We went to school together. There will be cake and games at Harry’s birthday, and Ben is invited if you want to stick around town. Sorry again for worrying you before. I should have told you right away that Joel was watching Ben.”
“I had other priorities at the time.” Namely, hugging a toilet and regretting ever setting off on this road trip.
Her gaze dips to my barely touched water. “Are you sure I can’t get you anything? Ginger ale or…”
After what happened the last time I dared to sip ginger ale? No thanks.
I shake my head. “Water is fine.”
“Just shout if you change your mind,” she says and leaves to check on another customer.
I don’t know how she does it, but that woman is single-handedly managing every table in this place, and there are at least twelve with people at them.
As Ben digs into his burger and fries, I sit back, breathing through my partially open mouth.
We havebarelystarted this road trip. How am I going to make it through the next three weeks of cross-country driving when I can’t go an hour without throwing up?
Chapter 3
Joel
“So, what’s her story?” I glance over at table thirteen.
Rose turns green every time she looks at the burger her cute son is biting into. She shudders and takes a tiny sip of water, wrenching her gaze away from the ketchup dripping onto Ben’s plate.
