easier to get it out of the way. Before you go on thinking he’s alive.”
“I get it,” I said, making a concerted effort to stare at the screen. “You don’t have to explain.”
Except I was single-handedly responsible for someone dying in a drinking and driving–related accident.
My arms shook and anxiety snaked its way up my spine as any appetite I’d had quickly disappeared. Any emotions I’d had were replaced by guilt and remorse, and the carnal urge to flee the situation. I needed to get out of here. I had to.
“What do you want to drink?” Grant said.
“Um, water.”
He arched a brow, his hands becoming stock-still on the steering-wheel. “You want a water? After all those lively conversations about your love for Starbucks and their amazing iced coconut milk caramel macchiato?”
He let out a long sigh, staring at the menu again. “I have officially killed this date.”
“You didn’t,” I said.
“Look me in the eye and say that again.”
I lifted my gaze from the phone, meeting his unreadable expression. I was lying. He knew it. What was the point in pretending it wasn’t true?
“You might be a master of sarcasm, but you’re a terrible liar,” he said, shaking his head.
“Yeah? Well, most people aren’t as good at reading me as you seem to be.”
The frown on his face and disappointment in his slumped shoulders tugged at my heartstrings. He couldn’t know how one simple truth about his life would affect me, how it pulled memories of that night with Nikki to the forefront and flooded my mind with guilt.
I should’ve taken the keys, but I was too worried about getting caught by my dad to do the right thing. This was the consequence. It would always be the consequence.
“You haven’t ruined the date,” I said, lying to us both. “I just … I know someone who died in kind of the same way and it just caught me off guard. It’s easier to ignore those emotions.”
“Welcome to Starbucks. What can I get you?” someone asked through the speaker.
Grant immediately shifted his attention to the menu, and I sat back in my chair heaving heavy breaths as he ordered my very specific coffee and a plain café Americano with an extra shot for him.
I’d dodged a bullet, but the sinking feeling in my gut told me I couldn’t avoid the conversation forever. Somehow, someway, he’d find out about my involvement in Nikki’s wreck. When and if he did, he’d never see me the same.
A few minutes later, amid an unexpected and unwanted tension, Grant pulled the car into a vacant Hobby Lobby parking lot. He stared out the window for a moment, silent.
“You can be totally honest with me and not hurt my feelings,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper. “Do you want me to take you back to camp and chalk this date up to an epic failure on my part?”
“This date isn’t an epic failure, and if I didn’t want to be here, I wouldn’t be,” I said, looking at him.
“I brought up my dead dad in the Starbucks parking lot. I think that ranks up there with most horrible dates in the history of dating.”
“You get brownie points for coffee,” I said, forcing a sympathetic smile. “But, real talk, if you’re wanting normal Alex, I need to focus on these geocaches and less on the serious stuff. I can’t process it on my end, okay?”
“Are you at camp to process it?”
“I’m at camp to get away,” I said. I handed him back his phone. “So help me do that. Tell me what a geocache is and walk me through how to find it.”
“You really want to know?”
“I really do.”
Despite my completely unnerved stomach, I grabbed the coffee he ordered me and forced myself to take a sip. The liquid was sweet on my tongue, the extra caramel drizzle counteracting the bitterness of the cold brew.
“All right,” he said, showing me the screen. “First things first, a geocache is a tiny little capsule people hide in random places.”
“Like buried treasure?”
“Like pointless trinkets they happen to have on hand,” he said. “There’s supposed to be one in this parking lot called the Magic 8 Ball. It’s described as a small tub with a Magic 8 Ball key chain in it, but we have to find the tub.”
“Ideas on where to look?”
“I have a map,” he said, flashing me the screen. “Well, the coordinates anyway, and a clue that makes zero sense.”
I nodded, unbuckling my seat belt as he turned