A Cross-Country Christmas(12)

She nodded.

“Thanks for indulging me,” he said. “I hope your burger was good.”

Wow, he forgives quick.

He drove through the parking lot, back toward the road they’d come in on, and Lauren felt ashamed.

It wasn’t a fair fight when your opponent didn’t even know he was in the ring.





Chapter 6





The rest of day one was fairly uneventful. They rode mostly in silence, which didn’t bother Lauren—she listened to her audiobook and stared out the window. They stopped off at three different spots, which oddly Will seemed to have planned for. There was a little roadside gas station with vintage pumps, a “bottle tree ranch” which looked like an art installation of hundreds of colorful glass bottle trees sticking up out of the ground and the first ever McDonald’s, which was now a museum that thankfully, they didn’t take time to walk through.

She did learn, though, that Grimace is actually a giant taste bud. Who knew?

It was strange to see Will excitedly interested in something other than alcohol or women. It disrupted her impression of him.

Now, as evening approached, Lauren’s stomach growled mortifyingly loud enough to upset the silence in the car. Will laughed.

“Okay, I hear you. Good timing, too, because we’re stopping up here for the night.” He pointed to her stomach. “We can grab food for that beast.”

She glanced at the clock. It was barely evening. They had several more hours of daylight and could easily keep going.

“Is that okay? Does that work?” he asked.

After treating him like she did, he was still considering the way she felt.

Still, she didn’t know how to keep what she was thinking to herself.

“We could drive a few more hours,” she said. “If you’re tired, my offer to take a turn still stands.”

“Nah,” he said. “You’ll love this place. It’s an historic landmark.”

“An historic landmark in the middle of the Mojave Desert,” she said.

“Near a volcanic crater! Are you kidding me? We’re totally stopping. You’ll love it.”

She glanced over at him, his five o’clock shadow coming in right on time. It made him look even more like a rugged outdoor model than he already did, which she found equal parts annoying and appealing. The thing that struck her most, however, was this boyish excitement he seemed to have about this road trip. She wondered, but didn’t ask, what that was all about.

“We don’t really have time to see the crater tonight, though.” He shifted his hands to the bottom of the steering wheel, seemingly weighing their options. “But. . . we could go in the morning. Or I could just go, you know, before you wake up.”

“Don’t you want to get on the road early?”

He shrugged. “Whatever. I don’t really have an itinerary, remember?”

“I’m starting not to believe you. You’ve known exactly where to stop at the last three places.”

He shifted in his seat, almost like he was caught. “You really think I planned on sleeping in a crater?”

She let a small smile creep onto her lips. “Dunno, it kind of sounds like a place you’d sleep. Do we have reservations at this hotel?”

He chuckled. “It’s a motel. And no. Despite what you think, we really are winging it.”

Her stomach squeezed at the reminder. She didn’t like “winging it.” What if they ended up in the desert without somewhere to stay? It’s not like there were very many places to choose from.

“We should be there soon,” he said. “Less than an hour, maybe?”

She turned forward in her seat as a text came in. It was her boss, Lisa.

I know you’re heading home for the holidays, but we have an emergency. The artwork I ordered for the dorm room isn’t going to work.

Did you have other options you could send my way?





Her heart rate picked up as her fingers typed out a reply.



Yes, I had three different mood boards with available artwork in my original proposal.





She forced herself not to be irritated that Lisa hadn’t read her whole email, trying instead to look at this as the huge opportunity it was.

“Everything okay?”

“What?” She glanced at Will. “Oh, yeah, no, it’s work.”

He nodded and returned his attention to the road, which was good, because his attention on her twisted her into a knot.

“Spencer said you work on a TV show or something?”

She nodded as her phone buzzed.

Send them to me ASAP.





We should be near WiFi in about an hour.

Will send then.





“I’m an assistant set decorator.” She tucked her phone back into her bag. “My boss, Lisa, designs the sets, but she’s taught me a ton. She’s actually starting to give me more responsibility.”

“That was her?” he asked. “The text?”

She nodded again, though she wasn’t sure he was looking at her. She still resisted being too cordial to him—they weren’t friends, after all. But if he was going to ask her questions about one of her favorite topics, she probably wouldn’t be able to keep quiet.