Page 59 of Making the Save

“If anyone asks about a ring we can say we’re having something custom made.”

“Okay.”

“We should still play a car game,” I said, changing the subject. “To pass the time. How about we try to guess each other’s favorite things and then reveal the right answer. Like… what’s my real favorite movie?”

“You mean I got that wrong?” Wyatt asked. “It’s notPredator?”

We were almostten hours into the drive and, in a way, it felt like what I always imagined a honeymoon might feel like. Minus the beach and the sex and the couples massages and drinks with umbrellas in them. We were together, completely isolated from the world, with nothing to do but get to know each other.

Tell each other our most embarrassing stories. Our childhood nightmares. The names of our favorite pets. The first person who broke our hearts.

“Lydia Belmonte,” Wyatt answered right away. “She was getting bullied by this kid in our class and I jumped in to save her and she ended up kissing him after school anyway. It was so embarrassing.”

“Some girls just don’t appreciate the good guys,” I said and then paused.

That was not a bad lyric. A little tweaking maybe? Appreciate?

Some girls can’t handle the good guys?

“What about you?”

Yeah. There was no way I was telling him about Axil. That embarrassment was still too fresh even though it was seven years ago. “Hey,” I said instead, pointing to the sign for a diner at the next exit. “Let’s get some food.”

“I could eat,” he said. Which I already knew.

Wyatt stood outside the gas station bathroom every time we pulled over to refuel the SUV and I needed to pee.

He drank energy drinks, while I stuck to water, but with snacks we were totally in sync.

We always needed a combination of salty, chocolate and too sweet.

Which meant we were eating Combos and sour cream and onion potato chips, Reese’s Cups, full size for him, minis for me, and Nerd Clusters for both of us.

We’d crossed into New Mexico and the sun was setting behind us, making the landscape look like we were driving through a distant planet. He let me have total control of the music so my happy music playlist was playing softly in the background. We were currently enjoying the undeniable Zach Bryan.

“So?” He said. “What about sex?”

Good mood gone.

“What about it?” I asked in my squeaky mouse voice.

“Oh, I don’t know?” He glanced at me and back at the dark road. “When did you first have it? What do you think about it?”

“I don’t think about it,” I said, too fast and too…weird.

“Never?” he asked, like I was an alien.

Now I felt like an alien.

The truth was, I’d been thinking about it a lot the last few days. With him. That comment he made about taking me from behind? So hard I’d go blind? Was that real? Was that how he liked it? Did other women like that? Would I? If I was being honest, it seemed unlikely, but every time I thought about him likethat…I got hot. And wet.

“What doyouthink about it?”

“You want to know the truth?” he asked.

“Always.”

“For years now, I’ve looked at sex as an assignment. Like executing a play in hockey. My goal is to get the woman I’m with, off. My reward for succeeding in that task is, I get to come.”