Magnolia shakes her head. “No kidding. I’m pretty sure if I got left at the altar on my wedding day, I wouldn’t want to even hear the wordmarriageever again.”
Magnolia sits down on the couch and slips her shoes on, buckling them.
“Are you sure you’re gonna be able to walk in those?” I ask as I stare at the shoes with a little bit of a heel.
“I’ll be fine,” she says. “It’ll help stretch my legs out.”
She takes a step forward and wobbles so much that she begins to fall toward me. I move forward and catch her in my arms.
We meet in this grasp, my arms around her as she throws her head back in laughter.
“It’s a good thing you’re so strong. You probably haven’t even had to go to the gym since you met me. You’re always having to catch me or carry me somewhere.”
“I don’t mind,” I tell her.
“Get a room,” Max mutters, and I could happily punch him because Magnolia pulls out of my arms quickly.
“It’s okay. I know you’re still young,” she teases him. “Public displays of affection make young people uncomfortable.”
Max is definitely older than Magnolia, but I don’t say anything. I just let her tear him to pieces.
“Oh, please,” Max scoffs. “As if I haven’t seen some PDA before…”
She glances around and then lowers her voice to talk to him. “I don’t know if anyone has had the talk with you before. But sometimes, people touch other people, and some people will even kiss other people?—”
He reaches for her as if to get her in a headlock. She pokes him in the ribs and dodges away, managing to stay on both feet this time.
“If you weren’t such a good help today, I’d give you a noogie,” he threatens her.
She just laughs and walks away. “Real mature. Come on. I’m hungry, and like you guys said, there’s no food in the house. We’re just lucky there was coffee this morning.”
It really wasn’t fair of us to make her work all day with us. Max and I are used to getting up and fueling up on coffee, then going to work all day, and when we get back to town, we eat a big meal. Magnolia is not used to that kind of schedule. She’s probably about to faint from low blood sugar.
We walk outside and stop in front of Max’s truck.
“When are you gonna get a new one?” I ask him.
“Someday, but it’s still working for now.”
“Want me to drive?” Magnolia asks as she starts walking around to the driver’s side.
I’ve never ridden with Magnolia anywhere, so I guess if she would feel more comfortable being the one driving, we should let her.
Max looks at me with wide eyes, and I shrug as if to tell him that it’s his call. It is his work truck after all.
Magnolia looks at it with such a bright smile that he can’t resist. He hands over his keys and goes to climb into the front seat. He pointsto the back for me.
I scowl at him but climb into the seat behind Magnolia, where she’s sitting behind the wheel now.
“I’ve never driven a truck this big. This will be fun.”
Famous last words.
Three minutes later, the truck is in the ditch in the driveway. She got distracted while looking at the cute baby calves that were frolicking around in the field and drove us into the ditch.
I jump out of the back seat and open the front door. I climb up, unbuckle her, grasp her thigh, and press a hand against her side as I slide her into the middle seat.
“That’s it. I’m driving,” I tell her.
