Just One Kiss novel · Chapter 8 of 24

Chapter 8: Quarry Road

Ansel tried his phone.

"No bars," he said.

I tried mine.

"No bars, and four percent."

"My dad is going to kill me. This truck is his."

"Your dad loves me."

"My dad loves you in a way that will not extend to the truck."

Rain hammered the roof.

Water ran down the windshield in sheets, and the whole world went soft and gray and small.

It was a very small truck cab.

I could hear him breathing.

I could hear myself breathing, too, which was worse.

"We could walk," I said.

"It's four miles to the highway."

"We could wait."

"We could wait," he agreed.

Neither of us moved.

The cab smelled like wet cotton and the lake.

My shirt clung to my back where the rain had caught me on the steps.

I pulled my knees up onto the seat and turned to face him.

"Can I tell you something stupid?" I said.

"Always."

"I stood on that path behind the kitchen with a really good-looking guy holding my hand. And all I could think was, I wish this were quieter."

"Quieter."

"I wanted it to be quiet. Like the truck. Like Friday."

He went very still.

"Lottie."

"I'm ending it with Perry tomorrow. Nicely, to his face, before he buys me one more sunflower."

"You don't have to explain."

"I'm trying to figure out what's wrong with me."

"Nothing is wrong with you."

"Then what is it?"

He didn't answer.

His hands were flat on his thighs again, the same as Friday.

Lightning lit the whole cab white.

In it I saw his face clearly, the chipped tooth, the wet hair stuck to his forehead, the hungry, scared look in his grey-blue eyes.

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