Page 24 of Crash and Burn

He smiled and said, “Okay. Well, thank you!” with a small bow of his head. To the kitchen he went with the cake, and then came back, closing and locking up his door. “So, I’ll drive then,” he offered.

I shook my head. “Nope. You’re riding the bus with me.”

“Amelia…we’re not riding the bus when I have a perfectly good car to drive us.”

“Not the point, grump. Will you just go with the flow? This is part of your birthday gift!” I gestured to the bus in a very Vanna White motion. “Come on. It’s all part of the plan.”

He rolled his eyes and followed me to the bus mumbling, “This is nuts.”

We hopped up the steps and I stopped to introduce him to Jimmy.

“Jimmy, this is Hudson. Hudson, this is Jimmy. Jimmy has been looking out for me for the better part of a year while I ride the bus home at night after my shift.”

“Nice to meet you, sir.” Hudson extended his hand to Jimmy.

“Hudson! Nice, to meet you, son. Anyone who can get my Amelia baby smilin’ like this must be alright.” He chuckled and extended his hand to Hudson. “Also, Happy Birthday! This is quite the way to celebrate your birthday.”

Hudson laughed and said, “I’ve actually never ridden the bus before. She told me to be ready, and so here we go.”

“You don’t say! Well, you’re in for a treat, son.” Jimmy has a big smile on his face. “Have a seat you two, and I’ll get us to our first stop.”

I turned to Hudson and said, “Come on. The best seat is in the back. Jimmy, can you turn up your radio?” Jimmy turned the jazz station up and we headed to the back of the bus.

“Amelia, this is wild.”

“It’s great, right?”

He looked around the bus with the jazz playing in the background and said, “Yeah, I guess it is. Where are we going?”

“To your first birthday stop. Wanna take a guess?”

Hudson looked out the window, shook his head, and shrugged his shoulders. “Are we going to eat somewhere?”

“Mmm...we could. We’re going somewhere that we could eat if you’re hungry.”

His phone went off and he apologized before answering it.“Um...I’m fine, man. No, I have plans already… I am…um…I’m with Amelia…Shut the hell up. I gotta go.”

“Sorry. That was Carter making sure I didn’t sleep my birthday away.”

“He’s a good friend,” I said to him.

“That he is. The best.” Hudson turned and stared out the window.

Jimmy was getting close, so I looked at Hudson and said, “Pull the bell.”

“The bell? What bell?”

“That string up by the window is the bell to the bus. You pull it and it lets the bus driver know you want off.”

His eyebrows raised.

“Go ahead, pull it. We’re super close.”

Hudson stood and reached for the blue string, then pulled it. The cheerfulding!of the bell made him look back at me, smiling ear to ear.

“See? Come on. Let’s head back to the front.”

Jimmy pulled over in front of the Barnes & Noble bookstore. “First stop, you two! Here ya are.”

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