Page 24 of Make or Break

“No, there’s a town in Alachua county called by the same name.”

That was news to me, but I was along for the ride. We sped down two-lane roads with nothing but pine trees and palmetto bushes lining the way. A part of Florida most tourists never saw.

After another ten miles, a sign indicated a school crossing coming up. We passed an empty elementary school soon after. Less than a mile from the school sat a small apartment complex. The road curved to the left and suddenly widened to four lanes. We slowed for a traffic light and it was like we were in an entirely different state.

Florida tended to be flat, but we were on a steep decline and this town looked like it belonged in North Carolina. A bank situated on the southwest corner appeared to be sunken because of the hilly terrain.

The light turned green. We coasted down the slope, over some railroad tracks and I caught sight of a quaint street lined with shops.

Tundra pulled into an open parking lot situated behind the shops and powered down his Harley.

While I stood by the bike, Tundra swung off, then grabbed my hand. Cold snaps in Florida rarely lasted very long, and it felt like a fall day rather than a chilly Christmas morning.

The moment we stood on the sidewalk of the main drag, I stopped. “Wow. This is like a Christmas movie set without any snow.”

“I’ll take your word for it. Didn’t think about it until now, but it’s Christmas, so the place I wanted to take you is closed. Hell, everything’s closed.”

I leaned my shoulder into his bicep. “It’s all right. Where were you going to take me?”

“The ice cream parlor here is the absolute shit. The only one that’s better is in a tiny town run by a group of bikers.”

We walked along the street and I wondered if this would be a decent place for another location of On a Lark. It was one thing to have a picturesque town, but we needed to have foot traffic to go with it.

“Did you just happen upon this place while riding one day?” I asked.

Tundra’s head wobbled. “Volt sent me and Beast to Gainesville when Alexandra ran into some problems. I’d heard about the ice cream shop and a nearby restaurant from a friend of mine. When it was time to head back to Jax, I got a wild hair to spend a couple days here.”

“By yourself?” I asked, then held up my free hand. “Don’t answer that. It’s not my—”

We’d reached a corner that marked the end of the shopping area. “You can ask, Mick. And yeah, I was by myself. Told Sarah about it when I got back, said we should take a Sunday ride, but in her eyes it was too far when there were plenty of other places in town where we could eat.”

I pressed my lips together and nodded.

“Babe, don’t hold back on me now. You got something to say, say it.”

I looked up at him. “It’s Christmas. I should be more charitable.”

His head tipped back and he roared with laughter. Suddenly, he wrapped me up in a bear hug.

His lips grazed my ear and he murmured, “Say it.”

I tilted my head back to look into his eyes. “This wasn’t a long ride, so she’s a dumbass who really doesn’t know what she’s missing.”

“Thought she was a grade-A bitch?”

“That too, but it’s Christmas.”

We wandered back to his bike. Growing up, I’d seen tons of bikes, many of them tricked out by my dad and Har. Tundra’s Road Glide hadn’t been customized, but it had such a low suspension that almost made it look like a custom build. I loved the metallic olive green color. It was subtle, and with the sun was glinting off the paint just right, the bike looked even sexier than usual.

It reminded me of the craziest idea as I stared at his Harley. So outlandish, Tundra would balk.

“What’s wrong? Are you missing your family? Fuck, you should have called them this—”

I put my fingers to his lips. “No, I’ll call them when we get back.”

“Then why do you look like you’re…almost sad?”

“Not sad. I’m trying to be a good girl, you might say.”