your own. I’d never understood the appeal of it before now.
But after meeting Josie, I was beginning to realize that once you met the right person, your person, it didn’t matter what your status was—married, dating, or just hooking up—your life wasn’t your own and you didn’t want it to be.
I’d planned on talking to Josie today about us, but if giving her a compliment was in bad taste, then having a talk about “us” was completely out of the question. She had enough going on without me adding to it by asking whether or not she could see us having a future. How she felt about me was the last thing she needed to worry about.
Still, as her phone dinged for the hundred and first time, I couldn’t help but reach across the console and squeeze her knee. I just needed to touch her, to let her know that I was here for her. I’d told her, several times, but I could see that she’d withdrawn. Not that I could blame her.
I pulled up to a stop sign and glanced over as she sighed and put her phone down on her lap. I was trying to think of something, anything to say to make things better when her eyes widened, and she pointed out the windshield.
“Look!” she exclaimed.
When I returned my attention to the road in front of us, I blinked twice. It took my brain a moment to process the information that my eyes were sending to my brain. Right smack in the middle of the road was a Great Dane and Chihuahua strolling down the main street like they didn’t have a care in the world.
“Do you think they’re okay?” she asked as she unbuckled her seatbelt. “Should we go see if they have tags?”
I was about to pull the car to the side when the two made their way up on the wooden sidewalk lined with mom and pop shops. The Great Dane walked right up to the window of an ice cream shop, complete with a red and white striped awning. The window opened and a woman handed out a scoop of ice cream in a bowl which the Great Dane dropped on the floor for his vertically challenged partner in crime. When he lifted his head again, the woman handed him an ice cream cone which he ate in two bites.
Beside me Josie lifted her phone and snapped pics. I was glad she was getting photographic evidence, because I doubted anyone would believe this. After finishing their frozen treats, the two walked back onto the road and continued on without a care in the world.
We both looked at one another in silence for a moment before we burst out laughing. Hearing the sweet sound of her laughter and seeing her wide, infectious smile soothed the sharp edges of anxiety and tension that I’d had since speaking to her grandmother the night before.
Mrs. Myers had talked about being responsible for your own happiness. But sometime, somehow in the past week Josie’s happiness had eclipsed my own. It wasn’t all about me.
My happiness now directly correlated to Josie’s. It was as if my soul was tied to hers. Her anxiety was my anxiety. And her happiness was my happiness. I’d never felt so in sync, so in tune to another person in my life.
I was still basking in the warmth of her joy when we pulled into Mountain Ridge Resort, where we were scheduled to interview Kyle. I was surprised when I saw that the parking lot was filled with press vans. There were at least a dozen stations represented.
“What’s going on?” she asked, I could hear the alarm in her voice.
Questions zoomed around my mind. Were they here for her? How would anyone know that she was going to be here? Had someone told them? It had to be someone on the What is Love? team. Who would do that?
But all of those questions were answered when I noticed the posters for Kyle’s upcoming blockbuster Red Car Warning and yellow signs indicating where press should go.
“He’s doing a junket.”
“Oh.” She slumped back against her seat and I knew I wasn’t the only one that had thought the press might be here for her.
Just because the press wasn’t specifically here for her, didn’t mean that they wouldn’t approach her. I wasn’t sure how I would handle it if anyone shoved a camera in her face. I truly wasn’t a violent man, but the thought of anyone