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“And I bet if I gave you a few minutes, you could easily research the positive impact taking PTO has on performance. We’re about to transition to a new assignment. Wouldn’t some downtime be appropriate?”
“I can see that, but—”
“No but,” he said, tipping his head back confidently. “We won’t fly. We’ll drive. Get in the car and just go. Let’s see where the wind takes us.”
“The wind?” She curled her lips into a smile, but the familiar strangling anxiety was threatening to close in around her neck. Nick was spontaneous, and that was frightening.
“This is a gorgeous country, sprawling land. Let’s go explore it. We’ll grab a bag of snacks and hop in the car. Have a good dinner tonight. A nice night's sleep in a new place by the river. Then we set out on a little adventure.”
“I hate that word.”
“Adventure?”
“Yes,” she grumbled. “Wandering. Wanderlust. Escapades. They all turn into the same thing... a mess. This is the wide-open country. Do you know what that means? You can’t just pull into the gas station on every corner like in Boston. You don’t know when you’ll come upon a place to stay. Food. Water. You can’t just get in the car and go without a plan.”
“I hate that word. Plan. Ugh.” He twisted his face up as though it pained him. “You can plan the fun right out of anything. You just have to have some faith.”
“Faith is the absolute trust and belief in something. Are you asking me to have that in you? The man who can’t find his keys most mornings and drinks milk straight out of the carton?”
“It literally tastes better that way.”
“You are a child.”
“And you might very well be a grandma masquerading as a hot young woman. Why do you need a plan so badly? Don’t you ever just let go and see what happens?”
“Absolutely not. And grandmas are very important people. They always have what you need when you need it. I’ve been called worse.”
“Can you come with me in the morning and trust me? I promise no matter what happens we’ll be fine.”
“Please don’t romanticize the idea of poor planning. Running out of gas in the middle of nowhere is not some cute start to a fairy tale.”
“And it’s not the end of the world either. Haven’t you ever hitchhiked to a gas station?”
“I prefer not to be murdered by a serial killer stalking the highways looking for someone dumb enough to run out of gas.”
“You’re really serious about this, aren’t you?”
“I’m pretty serious about everything.”
“I’ve picked up on that over the last month. But maybe that’s why you need this. You have to take a leap sometime.”
“Says who?”
He stammered out his answer, looking stumped. “I guess you don’t have to, but you should. Life is what happens when you’re out there making mistakes and taking risks.”
“That sounds terrible.”
“I promise, it’s not.”
She tapped her fingers contemplatively as she considered his offer. But like any good business deal, she knew there had to be terms and conditions. “I want to at least know what direction we’re going, and we need to pack some decent supplies. And paper maps. We should also take a look at where we could stay along the way.”
“No.” He shook his head definitively.
“No to what?”
“To all of that.”
She propped her hand up on her hip. “And you think you can just make the rules?”
