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“Don’t see what else there is to do. Seems like a fine idea to me.”
I made an exasperated noise. “We’re both wet to the bone and stuck in the middle of nowhere and taking a nap is your answer?”
He gave a long-suffering sigh and tipped his hat back so he could look at me. “And what exactly do you think we should do.”
I lifted my cell phone. “Uh, how about we call for help?”
Jeremiah just nodded toward the low-water crossing. “And who exactly do you think is gonna be able to cross that and rescue us?”
“I don’t know. A firetruck?”
He scoffed. “We aren’t in danger and it’s hardly an emergency. You wanna waste taxpayers’ hard-earned money just cause you don’t want to spend an uncomfortable night in a truck?”
Spend the night? He thought we’d be here all night? But looking at the water that seemed several inches higher already rushing over the road… dammit, he was right.
“Plus, they might just tell us to stay put anyway—I’m not sure a rig could make it across that any better than we could.”
“And if it keeps rising? What if we do get in real danger and we could’ve been saved if we’d only called earlier?” I shook my head at him and started dialing for help… except I had no bars. A frequent problem out here in the nooks and crannies of the hill country. “Dammit! Give me your phone.”
He reached in the pocket of his jeans, which were cemented to his lean legs by the rain and pulled out his phone. But his was the same. No service. “Ugh,” I said in frustration, handing it back to him.
“Like I said,” he settled his hat back over his eyes. “We wait.”
How was he so damn calm about all this? I wasn’t good with sitting still. I felt like I wanted to crawl out of my skin being stuck in the small space. It wasn’t that I was claustrophobic exactly… I just preferred open space where I could move and see the big wide-open sky overhead—and not have a big male body beside me breathing so loud and suffocating all the available air.
I pulled my phone back out and tapped on Solitaire. Thank God I at least had a few games already downloaded that I could play offline.
But an hour later the phone had beat me more times than I’d beaten it, and as far as I could tell, Jeremiah wasn’t even sleeping as often as he was shifting like he couldn’t get comfortable. And still, the rain hadn’t let up.
“This is ridiculous,” I said, slamming my phone down on the seat between us. “I’m going to go out of my mind with boredom. At least talk to me so I don’t go freaking nuts.”
At first, he didn’t react, but finally, he tipped his hat back, exposing his long-suffering facial features as he looked my way. “Fine. What do you want to talk about?”
“I don’t know—just talk. Like normal people do. You don’t have to make it awkward.”
“Wow, you make such an inviting proposition. No thanks, I think I’ll keep napping.”
I snatched the brim of his hat and yanked it away before he could resettle it over his face. “Oh cut the bullshit, you aren’t even sleeping.”
He glared my way. “Has any one ever told you that you are the most annoying human they’ve ever spent time with in their lives?”
“No. Most people find me delightful.” I plopped his ten-gallon hat on my own head and smiled prettily at him. To which I got an eye roll, naturally.
“Sorry, I don’t do fanclubs.”
“Your loss,” I sing-songed. “Or we could make this interesting and play five-card stud if you aren’t in the mood for talking. I’ve got a deck of cards in my purse.”
He squinted at me. “You just carry around a deck of cards with you everywhere you go?”
I just stared back. “Yeah. Sometimes it takes a long time for food to come at restaurants. And some of us know how to have fun in our lives.”
“While the rest of us are busy working.”
“Oh, please,” I said, reaching down between my feet and pulling up my purse. “I have a job that’s starting after the wedding stuff slows down. A good job. Where I’ll go into an office and everything.”
“An office? Where you have to get dressed up and shit?”
“Yeah, where I get dressed up and shit. Some of us are actual grownups. We can’t all just roll around in the mud with the cows our whole lives.”
