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“You’re coming with me for sex?”
Releasing his own seatbelt, he reached over the cab for hers, pulling it across her body before clicking it into the slot.
“Sex is as good a reason as any to hit the road,” he said, putting on his own seatbelt again, then starting the engine. “Not so bad having a base on wheels, baby, you’ll see. No motel bills, just gas and rubbers… We go where we like, stop when we like, screw when we like.”
When he was being so him, it was difficult to remember her point. “This isn’t a vacation, Danny. I have a purpose and I don’t have time for fooling around.”
“Right, no fooling around,” he said. “I’ll just give it to you hard and fast when we stop for gas.”
“Danny,” she groaned. “Sex isn’t a reason to leave your life.”
“Time to get outta town anyway. Earl got on my case; we had a blowout. I’m done with Buckhorn.”
“You fought with your boss?” she asked, not paying much attention to the fact they were moving. “You can’t leave after one fight.”
Danny’s focus had been on the windshield a while. His certainty was enviable. He didn’t know where they were going; he couldn’t when she didn’t even know. Yet he didn’t break a sweat, not even an eyelash twitched in hesitation.
“Already quit,” he said, sliding a hand up the steering wheel to rest his wrist on top. “Bored there anyway.”
The amount of time he spent getting stoned at work was no doubt a problem for his boss. From Danny’s perspective, Tess had assumed being out of it all the time would alleviate any boredom he felt while manning the office.
“Bored? Okay,” she said, tightening her hold on her mother’s urn. “That doesn’t mean you should leave town. This is your home.”
His lips quirked. His dimple gave her a glimpse of his amusement. “Why you think that? You think a guy who lives in a trailer on wheels ever sticks anywhere for long?”
Now that he said it out loud like that… The trailer was modern, inside and out. Clean, well-maintained, easy for a guy who was a mechanic by trade. But he was right. Just the fact that he had it, and that he took care of it, implied he wasn’t one for putting down roots. It actually made her wonder why she and her mother had never thought of hauling their home with them wherever they went.
Her head relaxed to the side, coming to rest on the seat. “You never talk about your family,” she said. “About where you’re from.”
“You never asked.”
No, she hadn’t and didn’t like what that said about her as a person. “Can I ask now?”
“Ask later,” he said, nodding toward the stereo. “Road trip needs music.”
Glancing at the stereo, it didn’t surprise her he wanted music, butwassurprised to see a tape deck in such a modern truck. “My God, where did you get that thing?”
“Had to put it in myself,” he said. “There’re tapes in the glovebox.”
Opening the hatch between the seats, Tess nestled her mom’s urn inside. Perfect fit. Once she was happy it was secure and wouldn’t be bouncing around, she flipped her focus to the glove box. Digging around inside, she saw there were a few CDs at the back, but mostly it was filled with cassette tapes.
She laughed, picking them out. “I can’t even remember the last time I saw cassettes.”
They weren’t descriptive, no names or listings of what was on them, just identified by a number. Every cassette appeared to be a homemade mixtape, and they were loose rather than in their cases.
“Look for mix five.”
“Okay,” she said, searching until she found number five.
Holding it up, she gave him the eye, but he just smiled and nodded at the stereo again. “Go for it.”
Pushing it in, Tess didn’t know what to expect. “IfSlow Handcomes on, you’re on your own,” she said as the music started and Gloria Gaynor’s voice filled the cab. If she’d had to put money on it, the camp track would’ve been way down the list of possibilities. Tess laughed. “Are you kidding me?” But there he was, mouthing the words without shame. “Are you secretly gay?”
He took a breather from his lip syncing. “They say the wife is always the last to know.” Shaking her head, she couldn’t stop smiling at him. “There’s an epic Abba medley on the other side.”
“Can’t wait,” she said, propping a shoulder on the back of her chair to support her temple on the heel of her hand. “You do have some surprising traits, Danny…” She frowned. “I don’t know your last name.”
“Winger,” he said, reaching over to take her hand from her leg. “Come on, everyone knows the words to this one.”
