Page 31 of Forever After Fall

“Anson.” I use an admonishing tone, but honestly, I like this side of him. I never knew he could be this much fun when he isn’t playing CEO and dad.

“Now, you should do the honors. You got your keys?” He picks the rock back up off the ground and waves me over.

“Yeah.” I hold up my keychain.

“Is it this one?” He points to the truck’s key, and I nod before he pulls it loose from the rest of the chain. He hands it back to me. “Get her started. I’ll get the rock wedged, and we’ll push it.”

“Push it? Push it where?” I’m confused, and then he jerks his head toward the cliff that’s down a slope from where we’re standing.

“Let her have one last flight. We can play ‘Freebird’ if we need to.” He’s amused by the idea, and for a second, I think it’s an elaborate joke. Until he starts to position the rock, and I realize he’s playing along with this far too long.

“You’re serious.”

“Dead fucking serious. You don’t want to see her fly?”

“I’m questioning whether I know you at all right now.” I laugh as I feel my heart rate pick up. This is extreme. Are we seriously going to run a truck off a cliff? Just for fun?

“You don’t know me. We just met in a whiskey room, remember?” he teases me.

“I mean, it got a little more complicated than that last night.”

“That was the least complicated I’ve felt in a while.” He shrugs and then turns to the truck. “I bet you’ll feel a lot less complicated when you take out the rest of the trash.”

I look between the cliff and the truck for a long minute before I finally take a deep breath and march forward, determined to take on the challenge he’s given me. I know he’s good for giving me a ride to borrow in the meantime, and if that shiny, new truck is any indication, his regular ride will be available for loan. It’s about ten times as nice as this and with none of the bad memories. In fact, seeing Anson’s truck come around the corner or sitting out in the parking lot always makes me feel a little better. Not that I’m ready to admit that to him just yet.

“Ready?” he asks when I get close.

“Yep.”

“Put her in gear and start the engine. Let me put it in drive though. If she starts to move, you don’t want to get caught on the door.”

“You sound like you’ve done this before.” I give him a suspicious look and only get a barely audible grunt in reply. Some things have changed. Others haven’t.

I follow his instructions, and he swaps places with me. Putting the truck in drive and then letting her roll down the hill. She picks up speed, and by the time she hits the cliff, she’s flying. Just like he said she would. She catapults into the sky and then takes a dramatic turn toward the ground, nose tipping down as she disappears over the horizon. A couple seconds pass, and there’s a loud crash that echoes through the woods around us.

I just stand there staring in awe the entire time. My heart racing and my mouth hanging open as it all unfolds. We flew a truck over a cliff. I ran his truck over a cliff.

Anson was right. The relief I feel is palpable. It’s one less reminder of him. One less thing of his I’m still responsible for taking care of. Another step closer to real freedom from Chris and his memory.

When I turn to see Anson’s reaction, I notice he’s at the truck. His new, shiny one, pulling something from a cooler in the back. He makes his way toward me with a long neck in each hand. The adrenaline is still pumping through my veins as he hands me the beer and then holds out the neck of his to toast.

“To taking out the trash.” He gives a tip of his chin that sends a skittering rush of want down my spine. He’s hot as hell, and I think this made him even hotter. I tap my bottle against his and take a long swig off it.

“Thank you. I think that actually really cured some of the rage in my heart.” It’s not quite the stranger meetup that I expected tonight, but this might be more fun.

“Happy to help.” He grins. “Now you just gotta do one last thing.”

“Get in your new truck. See if you like it or we need to take it back for another.” He tilts his head back to look at it over his shoulder, and the movement has the late-day sun highlighting the sharp curve of his cheekbone. He looks even more handsome in the stark relief.

How did I never notice things like this before? Was I that oblivious? Or just this in need of something to make me surface from the drowning waters Chris had slowly been pulling me down into? I can’t believe I missed it for so long.

“Mine? You mean to borrow.”

“Nah.” He tosses me the keys and grins when I catch them. “I mean to keep.”

“You can’t be serious, Anson. I thought you meant maybe you’d loan me your old one until I could get a new lease on one. I didn’t think you really meant this was mine.” I argue with him.

“I’m serious. I should have done it a long time ago. You put a fuckton of miles on your old truck driving Ford around. The least I can do is get you a truck to haul him around in. Plus, this one won’t have me worrying it’s gonna strand you somewhere.”