Page 31 of Stops Along the Way
I don’t move from where I’m standing. Should I offer to just stick with Amelia? She seems better by the second, however, and driving home with the guys was her idea, after all. She can’t be too upset about getting stuck with Grady for a bit.
Declan grabs the keys from his brother and gestures to the SUV. “You good, Iris?”
“Oh, sure, yeah.” I reach into the car and grab my bag, which is when I remember I’m still holding this chocolate bar. “Easier to split this.”
“Exactly.” But his brow is furrowed. It makes me question the change of seating arrangements. It’ll be nice to have time to brainstorm on the drive with Declan, but I was supposed to be spending time with my sister this week.
Chapter Nine
Declan approaches the SUV first to clear out the side door, tossing some snack trash into the nearby garbage can. With the day no longer early morning cool, he takes off his sweatshirt, and I walk past, climbing into the passenger seat, pretending not to notice his tee underneath slide up as he does so. He takes the driver’s seat and tosses the sweatshirt in the back on his brother’s bags.
“We can roll the windows down if the scent gets to be too much,” Declan offers, lowering the blast of air-conditioning and repositioning one of the air fresheners that had started to fall off the vent. He fastens his seat belt and watches as I click into the passenger seat.
“It’s all right. It smells nice.” I take a deep breath and sniff.It’s comfortable, and I feel right at home, not minding that the pine scent is at odds with the warm weather.
“Good. I mostly don’t want you catching a whiff of the laundry bags,” Declan teases.
“It makes me feel like we should wear mittens and drink hot chocolate.” I almost addand cuddle by the fireplacebut stop myself just in time, though I can’t prevent myself from recalling when Declan stood in the doorway on a game night this past winter, knocking snow from his boots and absentmindedly pulling off his wool hat, nose red from the cold.
“At least we have chocolate,” he says. “Want to open it?”
I fumble with tearing the plastic, having to turn the bar to the other side, while looking out the window. Grady is adjusting the mirrors in our car as Amelia messes with the music. What I’d give to be a fly on the wall in that car for the next two hours.
“I’m not sure our siblings get along,” I say.
Declan laughs. “Grady can take some getting used to.”
“At least we don’t have to worry about them dating or something. That would be weird.”
“Would it?” Declan isn’t perturbed by my statement. He holds out a hand, and I drop a few squares of chocolate as he nods toward the glove compartment. “There’s probably some napkins in there.”
“Do we really need napkins?” I ask.
“I mean…” He arches an eyebrow. “I may be experiencing some minor trauma from you tearing me a new one about smudgy fingers near yourpreciouscard deck.”
Oh shit, he remembers that.
I didn’t think I’d made that big of a deal about it, but obviously it was enough to make a lasting impression. Hopefully, I wasn’tthatobnoxious about it, but I still cringe at the prospect of my gorgeous character cards covered in grimy candy residue, so I stand by my reaction.
I tilt my head back and laugh. “No, you can’t hold that one against me. Your hands were like—” He holds up the chocolate, which is already starting to melt in his palm. “Like that!”
He licks his palm clean. “What were you saying about our siblings dating?”
Grady pulls out of the spot and drives down the rest stop ramp slowly, waiting for Declan and me to start merging back into traffic. Declan holds out his hand until I find him a napkin, then turns on the ignition and follows the car onto the highway.
“That it seems incredibly unlikely.” I don’t understand why there’s some part of me that needs reassurance about this. “She really seemed to hate that he was calling her by her nickname already.”
Declan’s amused by my logic and not the least bit unsettled. “If there’s one thing my brother loves, it’s a nickname.”
“Yeah, Dex,” I tease.
“Actually, most people call me that.”
That’s earth-shattering information.
My jaw drops. “What?”
“Like, at school. Probably because they always heard my brother calling me that,” he explains. I lean over the centerand tap Declan’s arm several times, which he ignores, though his smile grows, until he finally relents to ask, “Can I help you?”
