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“That’s a lie.”
“Well”—she choked out a laugh—“I could have totally done it without you, but I’m glad I didn’t have to.”
“I need to get a job at this company you two work for,” Hunter said, clapping the dust off her hands. “It’s certainly an electric atmosphere.”
With a few more jokes and a hug goodbye, Cleo watched the white tents disappear in the rearview window.
“I’m glad I trusted you.”
“It could have gone terribly wrong too. It really is a gamble when you’re with me.”
“I guess we could still end up hungry and having to sleep in the car.”
“But you dug up a cephalopod and two gastropods.”
“I wonder what else I’ve been missing while I was sitting in law school?”
“Stick with me, and you might launch an entirely different career. Have you considered tightrope walking? Tarot card reading? I could totally picture you as one of those people at the park selling popsicles on a hot day.”
“And yet I traded away all my youth for a law degree.”
“But it’s what you always wanted to be?”
“Literally as long as I can remember. I used to spend my time watching those cheesy court shows rather than cartoons. I loved the idea of defending the law. I could read case law for hours the way someone else might devour the latest trending novel. It speaks to me.”
“So you can sell the popsicles in your downtime.”
“I do a very good job of not leaving myself any of that.”
“On purpose?”
“It’s not something I like to admit out loud, but if I’m being honest, yes. I like to be busy. Busy keeps me from questioning every one of my decisions that led me where I am.”
“You don’t like where you are?”
“Do you?”
Nick chuckled. “Good deflection, but I’ll give it to you. For the first time in my life, I do like where I am. Who I am. I had to fight for so long just to keep my head above water. I never knew what I wanted to do or be because no one in my life was turning into anything. Just the same rat race. Now, I feel like I have a purpose. Because of the catering my brother and I do, we can go out into the community once a week and feed people for free. It’s not much, but it feels like it matters.”
“I’m sure it does. And you’re working with your brother, which must be nice.”
“It’s everything.”
He didn’t mean it to be, but the declaration stung. If a family was everything, then she had nothing.
The car ride was quieter than their first four hours, where they debated history, discussed if pineapple belonged on pizza, and shared embarrassing stories of their failures. Cleo was in her head now. She wanted to tell him all about herself, but she knew it would change things. If he heard her story, he’d never look at her as adoringly. He’d never compliment her for the hard worker she was. The word impressive wouldn’t be used to describe her anymore. She’d broken his cardinal rule, and there would be no way to move forward from that.
“You’re quiet,” he commented finally as they pulled into some civilization. “Are you hangry?”
She smiled. “No. Just thinking. You wouldn’t understand what that’s like.” The jokes were endless. He was dumb. She was uptight. He walked haplessly through life, and she planned every second. Neither was completely true, but it made for great banter.
“I occasionally have thoughts, but I make sure to get rid of them as quickly as possible.”
“Obviously.”
“Does pizza sound good? This place looks decent.”
“It looks closed.” They were parked in a poorly lit parking lot behind a pizza place with no other cars.
