Page 43 of The Amazing Date

I know it’s the fatigue talking, but I still take affront. The pair have been nothing but nice to everyone. “Not yet. I haven’t ordered, and Ronnie says he has some information for us.”

“Coffee, yogurt, and two bananas for me. Ronnie has whatever time it takes for them to pack that to go to tell us. And if it’s another wild goose chase, I’m not going to kill them, I’m going to kill you.” I wait for a signal that she’s kidding, but it never comes.

Rylee walks toward their booth, and I wave down the waitress slash hostess, who I assume to be Ma from the sign on the highway.

She raises her hand in my direction. “I heard your girlfriend’s order. What’ll you have?”

I don’t bother to correct her, no longer sure what Rylee and I are. It doesn’t appear that we are frenemies any longer, but I’m not ready to put a label on whatever it is going on between us. “I’ll have a coffee and a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich to go. Thank you.”

She nods, not bothering to write down an item. She sticks her head into the kitchen, and I walk over to join my teammate.

She has her arms pressed against her chest, feet wide, and a ton of attitude on her shoulders. She’s not a fan of whatever Ronnie is telling her.

“Oh, good, Roberto. Maybe you’ll listen.” My gaze flits between Rylee and Ronnie. I place a hand around Rylee’s shoulder, which she shrugs off.

“Let’s go,” Rylee grunts. “I’m not in the mood for another detour.”

“Okay, wait. I can prove it.” Ronnie’s voice rises an octave, and he looks over my shoulder, waving at someone.

“If they don’t want to believe it, so be it. We tried,” Thelma whispers, wiping a napkin across her lips.

“Ma?” Ronnie calls her over as if she’s a long-lost friend. Ma steps to us, wiping her hands on a rag that is hooked on her apron.

“What can I get you?”

“Can you tell these two what you told me about getting to Mount Rainier?” Ronnie leans back with a smirk on his face.

Her eyes tighten and flit from Ronnie to me. “They’re doing construction on the interstate. At this time of the day, you have another thirty miles of bumper-to-bumper traffic.”

“Let’s go.” Rylee puffs out a breath.

“No,” Ronnie says vehemently. He turns to Ma. “And?”

She clears her throat and puts her hands on her hips. “There’s a country road the locals use. You have to drive a few miles in the opposite direction first. But when you reach it, it loops back and will take you almost all the way to Mount Rainier. It’s always empty. Will save you nearly an hour.”

Ronnie claps his hands in victory. “An hour. Did you hear that?”

“I heard nearly an hour. But I also heard driving in the wrong direction,” Rylee grumbles.

“Who cares? It’ll get us there the same time as Kelly and Caitlin. Once we heard, we decided to sit and enjoy a meal.”

“As opposed to grabbing your meal to go and beating them there? I don’t understand.” Rylee is still perplexed by their behavior, while it’s beginning to make perfect sense to me.

Thelma finally speaks. “True, but we know there is going to be a physical challenge once we get there. They’re not sending us hundreds of miles to a mountain not to have it play a part in the race. It’s better to pace yourselves, refuel, and arrive ready to race. Slow and steady.”

I nod, understanding the approach. They have thirty years on us, yet they have been ahead of us practically the entire race. It’s time for us to listen and learn.

“You can follow us,” Thelma offers. “Just in case you think it’s a wild goose chase. We’re not those people.”

Her comment silences Rylee. Her hands uncross, and I jump in, “She never said you were. It’s just we haven’t had any sleep. Kelly and Caitlin falsified a race clue, left it in our room last night. We thought it was real and raced around Seattle all evening.”

“Damn,” Thelma whispers.

Ronnie smacks his knee in laughter.

“And what is so funny?” Rylee snaps, and Ma races away, hopefully to grab the coffee to calm down the raging beast that is my partner.

“Thelma and I were in bed by eight forty-five. They promised us a night off, so we took it. If they slipped a note under our door, we would have ignored it and forfeited the race. Nothing was going to keep me from a night curled up with my sweetie.” The love in his eyes silences Rylee.

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