Page 25 of Hauling Ashe

“Garrett? He’s the golden child. As the only son and oldest Fox sibling, he can do no wrong in Mom’s eyes. She’s blind to the fact he basically left home and never looked back. He only visits once a year.” Mae huffs. “He has a condo in California actually, but he permanently resides in Georgia now.”

“That’s a big shift,” I say, chuckling at the extreme of one coast compared to another.

“He fell in love.” Mae’s smile grows more genuine. She’s happy for her brother and that smile suggests love is the answer to everything life altering.

“It happens,” I jest but my voice falls flat. Had I loved Rochelle? In some ways, I had. We’d grown together then shattered apart. I hadn’t so much as fallen out of love with her as I’d felt betrayed by her. When I think of what Mae told me about her husband, I realize she might understand the duplicity I felt. I don’t know how Mae could have taken her husband back after an affair, but I realize that pretty words spoken as promises can send mixed messages. Rochelle was only allowed to fool me once.

We continue on as the moody blues tunes fill the car before Mae skips a song.

“Does that say Meramec Caverns?” I point at the sign painted on the roof of a barn. Mae doesn’t respond but her smile grows. “We should stop.”

“What?” she laughs.

“We should see the caves.”

“They’re kind of commercial.” She side-eyes me and I recall her saying she grew up in Missouri.

“Have you been?”

“No. But if you’ve seen one cave you’ve seen them all, right?” Her voice hesitates.

Slowly, I smile. “You said I could pick where we visit in Missouri and I want to stop at the caves. What are you afraid of?”

“Bats. Small spaces. The dark. Your typical top three.”

“Bats?” I laugh. “They won’t hurt you.”

Mae shivers beside me. “When I was a kid, I was opening a barn door when a bat fell from the hinge and landed on my arm.” Mae extends her arm, keeping one hand on the steering wheel. Her forearm is upright, and I want to trace my finger down her skin again. “The thing flipped back and forth.”

Mae releases the wheel and slaps her other hand upside down and then palm side down to imitate the action of the bat.

“Sunshine,” I snap as the car veers left. “Hands on the wheel at all times.”

My errant driver laughs, clutching ten and two on the steering wheel once more, but she gives a full body shiver in her seat at the recall of her bat experience. I can’t help myself and I reach for those wayward hairs again, tickling my fingertips along her neck.

“Bats only go for here,” I state, running my fingers over her flesh, feeling her pulse near her throat. Legendary vampires would want a bite of her and so do I.

Mae laughs and tucks her chin to her shoulder, pinning my tickling fingers against her skin.

“No caves,” she says, her voice lighter than it had been earlier.

“Yes caves.”

“Oh, look a giant red rocking chair,” she announces at the roadside advertisement for it.

“After the caves,” I say, wiggling a brow at my driver and placing my hand on her wrist as if I’ll tug her arm to make us exit.

“Fine,” she grumbles but a smile still fills her voice.

12

Playlist: “Cars” – Gary Numan

[Mae]

The caves were pretty cool and chilly, and I wasn’t prepared in my thin shirt and shorts. Being with Tucker as he soaked in the hollowed spaces and dangling stalactites was like seeing a new person. He was different today, like an unfolded map, revealing more and more land as it opened.

Our stop also felt like a date, especially when he’d place his arm around me and tuck me into his side or rub his hands up and down my bare arms to warm me up. I tried to shake off the idea several times, but the thought just wouldn’t pass. We were two people sharing an experience, exploring caves, and learning their history, and it was the very definition of a date, especially when he touched me. He even took a few selfies of us together.