Page 21 of Final Ride

I know the feeling, girl. I’ve had worse treatment from you than most. You almost succeeded in killing me more than once.”

Bobby reached over and patted Cleo on the head. “Tammy will soon be done, Cleo. We’ll cut her down to size for Ray, then we can go home to our cabin and live in peace.”

Cleo wagged her tail.

Best Western Hotel. Staunton. Virginia.

With Tammy lying in the queen-sized bed right next to him, Willy-John woke up in a relaxed and lazy mood. All the years he’d practiced medicine and made it his life’s work, he’d avoided relationships with women since the breakup of his marriage. It had all been a stupid waste of time on his part. He realized that now.

Mesmerized and a little shocked by the rugged night of sex with Miss Tammy, Willy needed time to get into the shower and rev himself up to start a new day.

“I’ll take the dogs out, Willy. You seem to be still tired. I’ll bring you a coffee when the dogs and I come back to the room.”

“That’s so nice, Tammy. I could use a few more minutes in bed.” He laughed. “You’re young and more resilient than me.”

“You’re not old, Willy. Don’t give me any of your old man doctor shit.”

Willy chuckled, then a thought crossed his mind, and he sat straight up in the big bed. “You’re not going to take the truck and leave me behind, are you, Tammy?”

Tammy giggled. “Course not. We’re a team now, Willy. A couple living our life on the road.”

Willy let out the breath he was holding. “Okay, good. I don’t want you to leave me stranded at the Best Western.”

Great Falls Airport. Montana.

Travis parked in a short-term lot, the boys grabbed their luggage, and they all headed for the terminal. Inside, he checked himself and the boys in at one of the kiosks. They only had carry-on luggage, and nothing needed to be checked. After clearing the check-point, they went right through to their gate.

He checked his watch. “Forty-five minutes until we board. Time for a second breakfast.”

“You read my mind, Dad,” said Virge. “That fried egg sandwich was good, but I could’ve eaten three of them.”

“No time to make you three. You’ll have to have a coffee and a muffin or a donut to keep you alive until lunch.”

“I can make it until noon on a couple of chocolate glazed.”

“Glad to hear you might make it all the way to Texas, son.” Dad turned to me. “Go pick out what you want, Harlan, and bring me a coffee.”

“Copy that, Dad.”

Washington. D.C.

Tammy was behind the wheel of Willy’s truck when they began passing the exits for the capital city.

“I’ve always wanted to make a trip to the capital of our country and see for myself all the historic places. Do we have time to drive by the White House, Tammy?”

Tammy laughed. “We can do anything you want to do, Willy. If you want to spend today looking around Washington while we’re so close, we can do that.”

“Thanks. I want to see it all so badly.”

She turned on the signal and took the next exit. “Here we go for our history lesson.”

Willy chuckled as they drove around the exit ramp and followed the signs. “This will be a great day, Tammy. We’ll be doing the very thing I’ve always wanted to do.”

“Before we do anything else, we’ll get a hotel for tonight. If we get tired, we can come back to our room and rest before we go on another tour.”

“Great idea. It will be wonderful to have a place to crash when we’re ready to fall down.” Willy laughed.

“Make a list of what you want to see, and we’ll cross them off one by one.”

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