Page 101 of Side Trip

“One more thing.”

His tone was serious, setting a nervous flutter to spin around her stomach. She lifted her head so that she could look at him. “What?”

“No morewhat-ifs. You’ll drive yourself mad. There isn’t a thing you can do to change the past. But if you don’t stop rehashing it, you’ll never move on. For all her stupid decisions that night, I bet Judy loved you very much.”

“I loved her very much, too. Still do.”

“I know you do. But she would have wanted you to liveyourbest life. Not hers.”

Joy would, as soon as she worked her way through Judy’s lists. She owed it to Judy to honor her sister’s memory.

Joy cradled his face and kissed him. She poured her gratitude and fear into the kiss. He kissed her back and, within seconds, the kiss grew hot and demanding. She kissed his jaw and dragged her lips down his neck. She bit his collarbone, he groaned, and she didn’t stop to think, about where they were or who could see. She pulled up the seat latch. Dylan fell back with a grunt and she toppled with him. She fumbled with his fly and he was right there with her, lifting his hips and helping her yank down his jeans and boxer briefs.

Dylan shoved her skirt to her waist and tugged aside her panties. He thrust up inside the same instant she came down on him. They gasped, and then she rode him, hard.

She wasn’t quiet, and she wasn’t gentle as she worked out eight years of guilt and shame from a tragedy that she still believed was of her making. And Dylan took it all, everything she gave.

Dylan climaxed with her, their lips locked, and once everything that she’d been keeping inside spilled out, she collapsed on his chest and sobbed.

“Joy,” he soothed. “My Joy.”

She didn’t know how long she lay in his arms, but aside from the occasional passing car and the hum of highway traffic several hundred yards away, it was quiet. She felt Dylan inhale and hold his breath. She lifted her head, surprised to find his eyes bright with moisture. “What is it?”

“Are you going to marry Mark?”

She nodded. Her gaze dipped to his chest where his shirt collar met his neck. “I made a commitment. I promised him I would.”

“That’s not reason enough to spend the rest of your life with him.”

“It’s enough for me.”

Dylan frowned. His eyes searched hers. “What about what you want? What about us? Did this week mean nothing?”

She cupped his cheek. “This week was magical, but it isn’t real life.” She wouldn’t give up the life she’d planned on a whim. She didn’t expect Dylan to do so either.

Mark had called this morning and she’d answered her phone out of habit. She let him talk and she listened. But it wasn’t his pleas to rethink their engagement that had convinced her to stay with him. It was the vintage clothing in her suitcase and Judy’s bucket list, and every other list stashed in her sister’s hatbox. After just seven days on a road trip cross-country and one night of intimacy with Dylan, she was about to forsake Judy’s dreams and for what? A little bit of fun with a guy she’d just met? Another chance to be bold and daring like she used to be pre-Judy? Pursue a life she’d sworn for years to put on hold because she owed her sister? Joy didn’t go back on her promises or renege on her commitments. She reasoned if she was so quick to give up on Judy’s dreams and goals that she had to be feeling the same about Mark, which meant she wouldn’t forgo either. This road trip had muddled her emotions. She was conflicted, that was all.

She owed it to Judy to finish her lists. She belonged with Mark.

Dylan’s face fell. He averted his gaze. Joy felt her rejection of him in the way his body softened under hers, as though hope had abandoned him. But Joy didn’t make rash decisions, no matter the consequences, not anymore. And abandoning a man she’d devoted the past few years to for one she’d only known for a week would be the second most rash decision she’d made.

“We have a deal, Dylan,” she implored. “I know what I said earlier, but please, can we honor it?”

His eyes flashed with renewed determination. His brows drew in. “Then give me these last three nights, Joy. Stay with me in Chicago. I’ll book us a suite. We’ll order room service and stay in except when I have a gig. Just be with me. Please.”

A tear trickled over her nose. She inhaled a shaky breath. “Okay.”

CHAPTER 29

BEFORE

Dylan

Chicago, Illinois

“This is anticlimactic,” Dylan said. He stared up at the battered brown sign screwed into a lamppost on Jackson Boulevard. ENDHISTORICUS ROUTE66. Considering the miles they’d driven and everything they’d shared, the marker was a bit of a letdown.

He’d dreaded this trip. Now he didn’t want it to end. If only they could stop time and exist in this bubble.

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