Page 33 of The Road to Finding Us

I’m getting ready to respond when a sweet older woman walks our way with two plates. “Pancakes?” she questions.

Aspen points to me at the same time I raise my hand. She sets the pancakes down and the wonderful smell of chocolate and syrup hits my nose.

Setting down the cheeseburger in front of Aspen, she asks if we need anything else before disappearing.

“This smells delicious!” I inhale loudly, wafting in the delicious scent. I drown the pancakes in syrup after spreading butter on top. My stomach grumbles, making me lick my lips in anticipation.

Cutting myself a big bite, I stuff it into my mouth and slowly chew. “Mmmmm, oh my god,” I moan. “These are amazing.” I look at Aspen and find his gaze straight on my mouth.

He clears his throat and picks up a fry, stuffing it into his mouth and chewing aggressively. “Better than Judas’s?”

“It’s close,” I answer through another mouthful.

We eat in silence and I don’t mind it one bit. These pancakes are too delicious to get sidetracked by small talk.

“How’s everything tasting?” the lady who brought us our food asks, now standing in front of us in a pastel apron. She looks like the grandma you’d see in a commercial advertising a baking item. She’s incredibly adorable, and her pancakes are next level.

“These pancakes are to die for!” I say, shoving another large bite into my mouth. My eyes roll back as the mix of deliciousness hits my tongue.

“Well, if you want to come back in two days, we’re running a buy-one-get-one-free on pancakes.”

“Thank you for letting us know. We’re actually only here for the night—on a small road trip before we go to a friend’s event. We’re going to find somewhere to crash tonight, but tomorrow morning, we hit the road again,” Aspen informs her before popping another fry in.

“Oh goody, we can give you lodging for the night!” Her wrinkled hands clap together in excitement. “The city is busier than normal. We have a convention going on. Don’t ask me what it’s about, I wouldn’t have the answer for you. But I can assure you, our local hotel will probably be booked. We normally rent the room to lone travelers through Airbnb, but we’ll give you a discount.”

I look to Aspen to figure out what we should do. I mean, they’re strangers, but very sweet ones. And if the hotel is booked, that doesn’t give us much more of an option unless we want to keep driving. We communicate silently with each other. It could be a risk to stay with the two of them, but they’re too cute to seem creepy. I could stalk their Airbnb host rating right now to make sure, but I’m sure it’s the same one Aspen just mentioned.

Old people wouldn’t be serial killers, right?

“Yeah, that would be really nice of you guys,” Aspen finally says, and I nod my head to agree with him.

“Wonderful,” Ed says, coming up behind his wife. “We’d love to have some company! We don’t get a lot of it out here.” He pinches his wife’s butt and I can’t help but snicker, especially when she gives him a look that screams don’t you dare.

They’re officially adorable.

“Ed, why don’t you go show them to the house if they’re done eating? I need to get back to cooking.” His wife kisses him on the cheek and starts to walk away. “Oh, and I’m Helen by the way!” she hollers at us as she makes her way across the restaurant.

Aspen pulls out his wallet to pay, but Ed swats his hand and gives him a stern look. Aspen looks at me for help, but I just shrug.

18

Aspen

Past - Age Twenty-One

Lily stares at me expectantly as I consider her proposition.

“Um…truth?”

“Why do you hate me?” The question flies from her mouth so quickly, there’s no doubt in my mind she already had it prepared. She stares back at me, challenging me to answer.

A long exhale escapes me. “I don’t hate you, Lily.” As I say it, I look into her eyes, trying to convey that if she should ever believe me, now would be the time. I bullshit around with her a lot. It’s my defense mechanism. It feels safe to mess with her—a distraction from how desperately I want her.

“I don’t believe you,” she says, pulling her eyes from mine and looking at the sky. As I try to think of further explanation for her, she speaks again. “Your turn.”

I follow her lead and look up at the sky. “Truth or dare?”

“Truth.”

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