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“Oh god. Hope it wasn’t anything juicy. Well, scoot, and make me a sandwich, woman,” he joked in his sleepy voice. She slapped him on the back of the head and clambered out of the car.
“You are such a jerk. I try to be nice, make you food, offer to cook for you, and this is how I get treated,” she grumbled, stomping around the front of the car. By the time she got to the passenger side, he had slid over behind the steering wheel. She dropped into his vacated spot.
“I told you not to spoil me. Sandwich?” he asked, making puppy dog eyes at her as he started the car. She rolled her eyes before reaching back into the cooler and producing his sandwich.
“And before you ask,withthe crusts cut off, you big baby,” she said, handing it over to him.
“Oh, you are so sweet to me,” he breathed, backing the car out of the rest stop.
Parker’s nap had filled him full of energy and he chatted as he drove, even while he ate. Paige did little to hide her disgust. He decided to push her by showing her a mouth full of food at one point, but when she slapped him upside the head again – causing him to spray half-chewed sandwich all over himself – he decided to stop teasing her. But as soon as he was done with his sandwich, he serenaded her with some of White Snake’s greatest hits.
She thought about jumping from the moving car.
They reached the shore by midnight. Galveston was actually an island, which was connected to the mainland by a huge causeway. Paige leaned out the window, watching Galveston get closer. Parker explained that his uncle didn’t actually live in Galveston proper, but in a place called Jamaica Beach, which was on the southern end of the island. It was like a small town, almost more like a suburb, but with some very high end houses. Apparently, his uncle’s home was one of them. It sat at the very edge of Jamaica Beach, facing West Bay and the Texas mainland. It was completely dark when they pulled into the driveway. Clouds had rolled in at some point and completely covered up the moon. Paige got out and stood next to the car, shivering as a strong breeze blew over them.
“This is it!?” she exclaimed, her voice a loud whisper as she took in the huge home before them. Parker nodded, hurrying around the car and up to the dark house. Paige followed close behind him.
“Yeah. It’s not facing actual open water, sorry. I can take you to a gulf-side beach tomorrow,” he said in a hushed tone as they reached the front door. She gaped at him while he dug around for the spare key.
“Oh, could you? Cause I don’t know how you expect me to stay in a hovel like this, I mean, how many bedrooms does it even have? Only six? Disgusting,” she joked sarcastically. Parker stood upright.
“Smart ass,” he laughed, unlocking the door.
Paige gaped at everything around her. From the white tile floors to the expensive furnishings to the state-of-the-art kitchen to the high ceilings. Parker told her to wander around while he got their stuff out of the car but she was almost afraid of getting lost. She'd never been in a home that nice, never been in amansion. She walked up to the floor-to-ceiling windows at the end of the living room and pressed her forehead against the glass. What did Parker’s uncle do for a living? What did his family do?
My family would be disgusted if they could see all this.I love it.
“There’s a pool out there,” Parker’s voice called across the living room, “and a hot tub.” Paige turned back towards him.
“A pool when he lives right on the water?” she asked. Parker shrugged, dropping the last of their stuff in the entryway.
“Why not, I guess. It’s heated, so that’s a plus,” was his explanation.
“Parker, what exactly does your uncle do that he can afford this house as his summer home and fly off to the Bahamas?” she asked. He laughed and walked up next to her, flicking a switch that turned on some outside lights. Palm trees that lit up around their bases lined a cement patio, and an infinity pool glowed blue from underwater lights. Her jaw dropped again.
“He was a stockbroker for a long time, had his own firm. Made some very wise investments, took early retirement. Now he just does his own thing, into investing in start-ups and things like that. He also has a home in Tahoe. That’s where he spends most of his time,” he told her.
“I have never been in such a nice home,” she breathed, still taking in the sight outside.
“Really?”
“Really.”
“Well, don’t think about it too much. Mi casa es su casa, right? Well, mi uncle’s casa is your casa, I guess,” he joked and Paige thought she detected embarrassment in his voice. She hadn’t meant to make him uncomfortable. She turned towards him.
“Do you realize that was the longest amount of driving we’ve done this entire time? I'm beat,” she told him, emphasizing her point with a yawn.
“Yeah, for a road trip, we make a lot of stops, don’t we? C’mon, I’ll show you to the rooms.”
There actually were six rooms. Three guest rooms were downstairs and then three more huge rooms dominated an upper floor. Parker led her to a bedroom up there. She assumed the room that was hidden by two double doors must be the master suite. The room Parker showed her was still amazing. She had a king sized bed, an en suite bathroom, a walk in closet, and a large terrace that faced the ocean – she shared that with the room next door, which would be Parker’s room.
It was then she realized they wouldn’t be sharing a room. They'd shared rooms ever since Mississippi. At the beginning, Parker had offered to pay for separate rooms if sleeping in the same room together made her uncomfortable, but she'd assured him it was fine – if he wanted to try anything, she still had her trusty boot razor. Paying for two separate rooms had seemed such a waste of money when they'd already shared a room and the cabin with no incidents. They'd bunked together ever since.
She was surprised to realize she was a little sad they wouldn’t be sleeping next to each other. She'd gotten used to staying up late, chatting with him, watching old movies together, or just falling asleep to the sound of him tapping away on his phone. Somewhere along the line, simply his presence had become a comfort to her.
Warning, warning! Change the channel, brain!
“This is so amazing, Parker. Thank you so much for doing this,” she told him as she went up to the glass doors that led to the terrace.
