AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I sink onto the steps and drop my head into my hands. Itactually sounds fun. I’m sure if it were Walker at my doorstep, I’d have given him shit for years over this, but he’s not. The concert does seem like the perfect way to remember him. And getting away sounds nice. And a night in a hotel room with Winnie away from our families and coaches and coworkers…well. It’s probably too early in our relationship forthat. This isn’t one of my sad distraction hookups. But still. Being with her, uninterrupted, sounds cool.
“Okay.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yeah. Let’s do it. Um, can I change really quickly? I look like a farmer.”
“But, like, a hot farmer. The kind they use in ads for those online farmer dating apps. I’m kinda digging the exposed biceps.”
I snort, turning to run back up the stairs. “I wouldn’t want to be too much of a distraction while you’re driving my car, Sutton!”
Twenty-EightCASE
By the time I make it out to my car, Winnie’s already in the driver’s seat, banging her head to something very loud and with a whole lot of synthesizers. I toss my bag in the back seat and climb next to her.
“Whitesnake?” I guess. I don’t know a ton of ’80s music, but a decade with Walker taught me enough.
Winnie laughs. “Yep. Full disclosure, I’m not really well versed in music in general and definitely not ’80s rock, so I went to my dad and asked him for a starting-off point and created a playlist of classics.”
“You asked your dad?” I’m touched. Winnie rarely goes to her dad for anything.
“Yeah, well. I was in a pinch.” She shrugs and passes me her phone. “I knew more than I thought, just not by name. It’s not a total lost cause. I thought we could listen on our way to Austin, and by tonight, we’ll be experts!”
I scroll through her playlist, impressed despite myself. This is several hours’ worth of music. Walker would be super into it.
“And don’t tell Kerry, but I made cupcakes for the occasion. Well, Garrett and I did. They won’t be as good as whatever Kerry baked, but we had fun decorating.”
Suddenly ravenous, I reach in the back seat for the plastic container and pop the top, immediately grabbing a chocolate-frosted one and stuffing my face with it. I don’t hold back my moan. “Want one?” I ask after practically swallowing it whole.
“Um, no thank you.” She shakes her head, her eyes full of laughter. “My dude, it’s not even lunchtime.”
“There aren’t any rules on road trips.Le temps n’est pas reel,” I declare.
“Time isn’t real, huh?”
“I still can’t believe we’re doing this,” I say.
“Believe it, man. I would’ve had T-shirts made, but I ran out of time. This is officially happening, and not to be weird on main, but I’m leaving the passenger-side back seat open for Walker. I know he’s probably busy with his girlfriend, but I can’t imagine he’d miss this weekend. He’s the one who bought the tickets a year in advance, after all.”
The way she says it, so matter-of-factly, sucks the air out of my lungs. In a good way.
“I used to see him all the time. After he died,” I explain. “In my head, obviously, but to me, he was there.”
Her eyes stay on the road, but her lips quirk in my direction, and I’m fortified enough to tell her the rest.
“I would call himGhost Walker,” I rush on. “And whenever shit went down, it was like he was right there.”
“Not so weird on main, then. In that case, I should also tell you I left space in the middle in case his girlfriend came, too. Double date, you know?”
“No,” I say. “Not so weird.”
“So.” She clears her throat, turning her full attention back to the highway in front of us. “Was this at the same time as the list stuff?”
I reach for another cupcake. “Yeah. You should have heard the way I reamed him out on top of that silo. Could have died climbing that thing.”
“No kidding. And what about the friend thing? With me? Like, I know how we are now, obviously, and so it all worked out for the best, but I can’t imagine what you must have thought when you first saw that.”
“Actually, I spent the first month cussing at him because you were intimidating as fuck, and it was abundantly clear you hated me. I was in way over my head.”
