“Hey,” I protested half-heartedly.
At least I now knew why they’d both come on this trip with me. To an extent, I owed them some conversation. I’d really not talked about Foley, and I knew I needed to start or that dick would be inside me forever.
I shuddered at the literal meaning of that last thought.
“My age has nothing to do with me spending time with Scott,” Aly added.
Scott! We had a name—oh holy shit!
I jerked forward. “Scott Campinah?”
“Exactly,” Harper confirmed.
“The Campinah fireman from the Campinah family who basically own Vernon?” I asked.
That was our neighbor town, and it was well-off. Unlike Friendly, which didn’t have a ton of businesses and was truly a dying small town, Vernon was not. It was a tourist town that was thriving, with six production warehouses there. They had a brand new hospital, a new high school, and their biggest debate was what color to paint the water tower. The fights on social media were nasty.
Vernon was privileged.
And North Campinah, along with his three sons and one daughter, owned or ran almost the entire town. The main drive had been renamed Scott Campinah Drive.
That Campinah, the one who volunteered at the county’s fire station because… No one really knew. He was also twenty-six. No wonder Aly was shitting bricks right now.
I grinned. “I bet he has staminaaaaa.”
Harper barked out a muffled laugh.
Aly flushed, her shoulders loosening up. “God, you guys. He’s ten years younger than me.”
I shrugged. “Love is love.”
“I know, but ten years? Everyone we know has kids. I feel like I’m fucking a kid. And his dad…” She sighed. “He’s a member of the Good Ole Boys Network, if you get my drift.”
That soured me. Right. Asshole. But still… “Fuck him being a kid. He’s twenty-six, and I bet you he had to volunteer against his dad’s wishes. You know his dad just wants him to work for him. That takes character. Say it straight. I bet he’s mature, isn’t he?”
“I just don’t know what I’m doing.”
“Hello?” Harper burst out. “Why are we not talking about the good part? How’s the sex? You two were thumping all night that night.”
Aly turned red all over again.
I shook my head. So far the road trip was quite entertaining.
Aly shot Harper a glare. “You just wait. We’ve given you time after Justin left, but it’s your turn to talk too, buddy.”
He eyed her. She eyed him right back, for as long as she could before needing to look back at the road. Then Harper rotated around, finding me. I sat back, finding Aly watching me in the rearview mirror.
Right.
This was a coming clean sort of road trip. I’d not signed on for that.
I remembered another reason why the three of us became friends. We’d bonded over the not-talking part of hard life situations. Aly getting it from a rich twenty-six year old, Harper’s breakup, and all the shitshow in my life—dammit.
Why weren’t we flying?
It wasn’t until we were driving through Sullivan, Missouri, that Harper broke.
“Justin wanted to marry me. That’s why we broke up!”