fine, just don’t expect me to keep you company on this drive until at least seven a.m.,” I joke.
“That’s fair. Your mom used to sleep the first few hours too,” he chuckles and his words are like a shot straight to my chest. I swallow, not wanting to start the day like this. My eyes immediately find my feet and the fresh white polish on my toes. Focus on something else, Stass. Literally anything else. As if he can hear my thoughts, I hear him break through the emotions swimming in my head.
“It’s okay to talk about her, Stassi.” He clears his throat. “It’s the only way we are going to survive this…so we don’t get swallowed up by the grief.”
“What’s there to say that hasn’t already been said? I need to move on.”
He nods and I turn away as devastation covers his features. “Unfortunately, Stass, this isn’t something that you’ll be able to move on from easily.” I look up, wondering where this morose piece of wisdom is coming from when our eyes lock. “The pain will lessen, but it’ll never completely go away. Losing a parent…a parent you were close to at that, changes you. You’ll feel their absence in every move you make for years. You can’t ignore or avoid this grief, Stass. You have to learn to live with it. To cope.”
“Fine, I’ll cope. Can we go now?” I rest my head against the pillow that I’ve propped against the door. “Let me know when you stop for coffee.”
The hum of the engine starts a few moments later, followed by what I assume is a playlist he made for the trip. I can expect a healthy list of everything from Johnny Cash to Cardi B. I don’t think we’re even out of my neighborhood before the first few notes of a Marvin Gaye song lulls me to sleep.
The next time I open my eyes, the sun is blazing despite the cool air circulating the car. I grab my phone from where it’s charging and note the time reads just after eight. I’m surprised I slept this long in this position, but I chalk it up to not having slept the night before. I look over at Dominic who looks surprisingly…hot. I wouldn’t be surprised if my eyebrows touched my hairline with how wide my eyes are at the moment. He’s wearing a baseball cap marked with his alma mater, backwards, allowing some of his onyx colored hair to peek out the bottom and the sides. Wayfarers cover his eyes and a smile tugs at his lips, assumedly due to the song playing as he’s moving with the music. He must have stopped while I was sleeping because he’s now wearing basketball shorts revealing strong, muscular legs thanks to living on the golf course during the summer. I rake my gaze up his body and the black v-neck t-shirt that seems to be even tighter than usual around his biceps.
Damn. He looks like a college student or grad student or whatever. He looked nothing at all like my stepfather, the man that wore a suit five days a week and business casual on the weekend.
“Have you been working out?” I blurt out.
“Look who’s awake!” His voice is way too chipper for eight a.m. and I instantly regret not just going back to sleep. “Are you hungry? We can stop for coffee if you want. We are making excellent time. Should be there in about two and a half hours.” He rambles and my eyes move to the console where I spy a Red Bull and a coffee, and an empty can in a bag at my feet.
I wince and lift the bag that also has an energy bar wrapper before tossing it to the back seat. “Maybe you should lay off the Red Bulls, speed demon.”
“A lot on my mind; I guess it gave me a bit of a lead foot, but that’s why I like to leave early.” He smiles.
“What’s on your mind?” I ask even though I know exactly what it is. What’s been on his mind for the past two months and maybe what’s been on his mind the last week. I nod in response and lower the visor to check my face but immediately regret it. I am in desperate need of some lotion and mascara and to fill in these brows. Stat. I rub a hand over my face and through my curls that thankfully feel pretty manageable. I pull them up