Page 56 of Kyle

“Not my hair!” I cry out, but I’m still laughing.

We proceed to chuck mud back and forth at each other until a group walking by decides to join in. Soon, all around us, mud is flying, and we’re both covered head to toe in it.

“Look what you started,” I chastise.

“Me?” He holds a hand to his chest. “Woman,youstarted this.”

Someone runs behind me, trying to dodge a mud pie. They turn and ram into me, pushing me into Kyle’s arms. My hands slam against his chest, and he grabs ahold of my hips to steady us. Our laughter trails off as we stare into each other’s eyes.

“Um, we should go clean up,” I whisper, “before the dinner rush.”

Kyle steps back, and the spell is broken. “Yeah.”

We make our way into the RV.

“Oh shit, we’re tracking mud everywhere.” Kyle stops in the doorway. “Green is going to kill me if we get mud on anything.” He steps a little farther in and grabs my duffel bag, sliding it toward the bathroom. “You take a shower first. I’ll try my best to clean up at the sink until you’re out.”

I slip my muddy shoes off, and move to the shower. When I see myself in the mirror, I burst out laughing again. “You didn’t say I looked this bad,” I shout through the door.

“I didn’t want to hurt your ego,” he quips.

It takes a good long while before I get all the caked-in mud out of my hair. Thankfully, I find a roll of trash bags under the sink. I unroll one and throw my muddy clothes inside.

When I emerge from the bathroom, I immediately come to a halt. Kyle is standing at the sink in nothing but his boxer briefs, and they don’t leave much to the imagination.

“Your… um, y-your turn.” I stumble over my words, my cheeks heating with embarrassment.

“Great.”

I towel my hair, so he doesn’t see my blush as he moves past me.

I dig through the cabinets and find two clear, disposable rain ponchos. Slipping one over my head, I leave the other on the counter with a note. By the time he’s finished, I’m in the food truck.

The door opens, and he jumps up, wearing his own poncho. “There you are.”

“I thought it was safer to just eat in here.” I smile from where I sit crisscross on the floor.

He pulls off his wet poncho and makes his own bowl, then joins me.

When we finish, the rain has come to a drizzle, but the clouds still loom overhead.

The slow in rain means for a big night in sales. But the rain only holds off for a few hours before it is like a monsoon. We manage to make it to the camper and decide to stay in tonight.

I’m exhausted and fall into a deep sleep.

The next morning, the ground is saturated, and there is quite a bit of standing water. Thankfully, people have to eat, even if the music acts can’t carry on, so Kyle is still making a killing.

On the last night, it’s clear there is a problem. Some cars have attempted to leave, but immediately find they’re stuck. A few make it out of the parking lot, only to get stuck a few feet down the road. No one’s getting out anytime soon, and no one’s going to get to us, either.

“Looks like we’re officially stranded,” Kyle announces as he climbs into the camper.

“How long do you think?”

“Probably a couple more days. The ground’s got to dry out. Thankfully, it’s stopped raining.”

“Are we going to keep selling food, then?”

“Until we run out.”

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