Page 9 of Truck You

The line is short, and we’re able to hop right on without waiting. Within minutes, we’re at the top, looking out over the city. The sun is just starting to set, and from up here, the sunset view is stunning.

The sky is shifting from pale blue to deep oranges, yellows, and hints of purple. The colors match the changing leaves I can still see in the distant hills beyond the city limits.

“Yo, Mac!” A male voice cuts through my thoughts. When I look down, I see the same group of men that called out to him as we were leaving the bumper cars. “Who’s your girlfriend?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Mac calls back as we sweep down and start our round and round cycle.

“Who are those guys?” I ask.

“Just my brothers. They like giving me shit every chance they get. Curse of being the youngest child.”

I glance over my shoulder and count at least four men. “Wow. So you’re from a big family.”

He nods. “And two of them aren’t here tonight. I’m the baby of seven.”

I smile at how affectionate and proud he sounds. “Are you close?”

“Oh yeah. Very.” His brothers yell something else at us as we pass by, but I can’t make out what they’re saying. Mac grins and shakes his head before he looks at me again. “Our family owns a lot of acreage, and all but one of us still lives on the land. We all work together too.”

“Must be nice. My siblings are cold and distant.”

He frowns at me. “How many do you have?”

“Just two. A brother and a sister. I’m the baby, same as you.”

“That sucks.” He leans back in his seat and stretches his arm across the back. He doesn’t touch me, but it still feels like an embrace. “I can’t imagine my life without my brothers. I mean, we fight and stuff, but we’re always there for each other, no matter what.”

“It’s always good to have family you can count on. I may not have that in my siblings, but I have a couple of cousins I can count on.”

His smile is back. “Yeah, I’d hate to think what life would be like if I were alone.”

He eyes me for a moment, like he’s studying me. “What? Is there something on my face?”

He shakes his head. “I’m just wondering where you’re from.”

“Oh.” I brush my hair behind my ear, and his eyes track the movement. “Cincinnati. Born and raised. But I went to college in upstate New York.”

“What did you study?”

I wrinkle my nose and force myself to maintain eye contact. Just because most people judge me for my career aspirations doesn’t mean he will. He practically has my dream job. “Automotive engineering. Well, technically mechanical engineering with a focus on automotives.”

His eyes widen. He stares at me like I’m an anomaly, and if he blinks, I might vanish. “Are you serious?”

I nod. “What can I say? I love cars. I love racing them and fixing them. Though I’m not that good at fixing them yet. But I want to learn. And I want to take a stab at building them someday. Cars are my passion.”

He blinks—and blinks again—before he shakes his head and presses his hand to his chest. “I think I’m in love.”

“Oh, stop it.” I give him a light shove just as the Ferris Wheel operator begins to make stops to unload this round, and revel in the fact that he doesn’t seem to be judging me for what I just told him.

A few moments later, we’re on the ground. He stares at me. I stare at him. And things feel awkward and weird for the first time since we met.

He shoves his hands in his pockets, and his gaze shifts to my mouth. It’s too dark out now for me to see the shift in the color of his eyes, but if I were to guess, I’d say they’re dark and heated based on the way he’s staring at me.

He takes me by the hand and starts walking backward, dragging me along with him. He doesn’t stop until we’re standing alone in the shadows of a dark alley.

“Mac?” I glance over my shoulder at where a crowd of people are waiting in line at the Ferris Wheel. “What are you doing?”

He rubs a strand of my hair between his fingers. There’s just enough light that I can see he’s looking at me.

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