My Favorite Souvenir(27)

I glanced over at Maddie in the passenger seat before returning my eyes to the road. “That question came out of the blue.”

She smiled. “I was just thinking of the things I would miss if I packed up and left Connecticut. I’ve become good friends with a woman there. She’s also a photographer. Her name is Felicity. I’d really miss her.”

We’d been on the road for seven hours already today. Our next stop was New Orleans. It was about a sixteen-hour trip, but we planned to do ten today and the rest tomorrow morning. I knew from experience that road trips were conducive to deep thinking. There was nothing but you and your thoughts for hours on end. So it didn’t surprise me Maddie was contemplating life during our drive.

“I have a few friends in Seattle. I go out with a group of teachers for happy hour every once in a while. And I play two-on-two basketball with these guys at the gym every other Tuesday night.”

Maddie nodded. “I had a few good friends when I was little. But every time we would move, I’d be so upset about losing them. After a while, I figured out that if I didn’t get too close to anyone, it was easier when my parents picked up and left.”

I frowned. “That sucks. Though, to be honest, I think I’ve been sort of doing the same thing the last couple of years. I had a lot of friends in high school and college, mostly because I played sports. But things have changed since I moved to Seattle. I chalked it up to relocating. Though looking back now, I’m not so sure that’s all it was. I’ve pretty much kept to myself since Zoe.”

Maddie sighed. “Yeah.” After that, she went quiet for a long time again, staring out the car window, seemingly deep in thought. When she broke her silence, she said, “Can I ask you something personal?”

I chuckled. “You mean all the shit we’ve talked about over the last six days wasn’t personal?”

She smiled. “I guess it was. But I don’t want to be too prying.”

“How about this? Nothing is off limits from here on out. Everything is on the table for the rest of our trip. You have a question, just ask it, and I’ll do my best to answer.”

Her face lit up. It was so freaking adorable. “Okay! And same here. I’m an open book.”

“Sounds good. Now that we’ve settled that, what was your question?”

“Oh yeah…” She bit her lower lip. “Do you…ever have trouble…you know, getting excited?”

My brows jumped. “Are you asking me if I have difficulty getting an erection?”

She nodded.

“No, that’s not happened to me as of yet. In fact, the last few days I’ve had the opposite problem. Especially after that little stunt you pulled last night, by the way.”

She covered a devilish smile with her hand. “I told you I’d return the favor if you got up and sang with me. I owed you.”

“Yeah, well, you’re definitely no welcher. In fact, I’ll have to remember that and make a few little wagers over the duration of our trip. There’s a lot more to see.” I winked.

Maddie laughed.

I really did love what our relationship had grown into. It was pretty crazy to think I’d only known her a little less than a week. Especially when I felt like she knew me better than anyone else these days.

“Anyway, getting back to your question,” I said. “I’m curious where all of this is coming from? First you asked if I had a lot of friends, and now you want to know if I suffer from erectile dysfunction. Your mind seems to be jumping all over the place.”

She shook her head. “Believe it or not, they’re actually related. I was thinking how I would miss my friend Felicity if I moved. Growing up, I never really had a friend I could talk to about boys. And she’s been a lifesaver ever since my engagement ended. Anyway, this morning I woke up and thought of something really random that happened with my ex. A few months ago, he came over after going out to happy hour with some people from work. He’d had too much to drink, and he couldn’t, you know…perform. That had never happened before, and I chalked it up to the alcohol and never really gave it another thought—until this morning. For some reason, I woke up remembering that night and something Felicity told me—that maybe his issue was caused by something more than just the liquor. Maybe Brady had done something he felt guilty about, or perhaps he was hiding something. She told me not to worry too much and assured me the truth would come out eventually, that I’d see it when I was no longer looking through love goggles. I was going to text her this morning and tell her I’d finally taken off my goggles, but then I remembered the time difference and didn’t want to wake her.”

“And you just randomly woke up thinking about that night?”

She smirked. “Well, maybe it wasn’t so random. I might’ve noticed your pants were fitting a little snug after we left that party last night. And you’d had a few drinks. So I guess it got me thinking…”

I knew what I’d done to alleviate that problem when I got back to my room. But I was curious as hell if Maddie had done the same thing. Since we’d just agreed no question was off limits, I figured, why not ask? Though I wanted some reassurance that she’d meant what she said.

“So…no question is off limits, right? That works both ways.”

Maddie raised a brow. “Oh, this is going to get interesting, isn’t it?”