Page 8 of Here's to Tomorrow

I grab a soda since that’s what I came in for and make it back out to the car in under two minutes. Rae’s just screwing the gas cap back on when I approach the car.

“How’s that for timing?” I ask over the roof.

She gives me a beautiful smile. “Perfect.”Yes you are.

See? That wasn’t bad. You’re doing good, dude.

We’re quiet as she drives us back to Jacked Up. It’s not an awkward silence, but a pleasant one. It feels normal for us to be this quiet, to drive without even the radio filling the stillness between us.

I frown, knowing our time is coming to an end. The entire ride with Rae has been so…easy, something I’m missing in my life right now. Nothing’s been easy for the past seven years. So this? This short laugh-filled car ride with Rae? It feels damn good.

“So, Rae…” I begin as she pulls into the parking lot.

“So, Hudson,” she retorts.

“What do you think?”

“Of you or the car?”

“Well, I was talking about the car, but, please, answer freely.”

She thinks for a second.

“I like.”

Curious.“You like? Which is that directed to? Me or the car?”

Rae looks over at me, a playful smile on her lips. “Both.”

“Blunt. I can dig that.”

“Most don’t.”

“I’m not most.”

She grins. “No, I guess not.”

Now, I’ve been smiling and laughing since the moment Rae walked into the shop today, but this smile? The one plastered across my face right now? It’s different, because that answer—that one four-word answer—it just made my heart do some weird-ass flippy thing it hasn’t done in years.

“Good,” I say, still smiling like a damn idiot. “I guess this is it then. Thanks for the…uh…test drive.”

“Thankyoufor fixing my car, Hudson. I think it may last this time.”

I cock my brow. “May?”

She rolls her eyes. “I’m not one to count my eggs.”

“Your eggs? You mean your chickens, right?”

“Eggs, chickens, whatever. It’s all the same.”

“Right,” I mumble through a chuckle. I climb out of the car as she rolls down the window. I bend down and lean on the door. “I guess I’ll see you around then?” It comes out a question, but I don’t know why.

“I guess?” Another question.

“Bye, Rae.”

“Bye, Hudson.”

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