Page 37 of The Wedding Gift
“Distance is a little over thirty miles either way,” he answered.
“Is Gordon that far? I got the idea from Frankie that it wasn’t but a few miles,” she said.
“We need a supermarket, not a convenience store. Mineral Wells is to the northeast. South is Stephenville. Both have a Walmart and several grocery stores,” he explained. “I looked it all up before I moved from Florida, so I’d know what to expect. If one of us needs a hospital, we’d probably go to one of those towns too,” he answered.
“Either one is fine with me, then,” she answered. “Just how much food are we buying today?”
“Let’s try for two weeks’ worth. I’m ready for something more than burgers and fries.” Talking about food almost took his mind off her lips and the way he felt with her lying on top of his body.
“Me, too. I’ve been starving for fried chicken,” she said.
“We could go to KFC while we’re out and about,” he offered.
“Why don’t we start our own tradition?” She would make a lousy poker player, because her face lit up and her eyes started to twinkle. “Since we can’t go home for the holidays, let’s do it our way. We’ll have fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, hot biscuits, and corn on the cob for our Christmas dinner. What’s your very favorite kind of pie?”
“Cherry cobbler with ice cream on top,” he answered.“And you’re making me hungry talking about a dinner like that.”
“Then we’ll have cobbler for dessert,” she said. “We can get ice cream at the Mingus convenience store on the way back home. That way it won’t melt.” She took a deep breath and went on. “But for today, let’s go have something like Mexican or Italian.”
“Sounds good to me.” Cameron was glad the highway had been cleaned off and that the traffic was light that day.
He was humming a new country song by Jason Isbell titled “Cover Me Up” and planning to ask the jukebox guy to include it the next time he came by when he noticed movement out of his peripheral vision. He stomped the brakes, hit a patch of ice, and slid to a stop as a buck and a doe crossed the road in front of them.
“Two again,” he said.
“What was that?” she asked.
“Seems like everywhere I look there’s two of everything, beginning with those two doves that we hung above the bar,” he answered.
“So you noticed that too,” she said. “Think it means anything?”
“I don’t believe in signs, magic, and miracles.” He chuckled.
The trip took a little longer than what the map app on hisphone said, but they were in Mineral Wells before noon. He noticed a sign for a barbecue place a mile up the road and pointed it out to Jorja.
“How about some brisket?” he asked.
“Yes!” She clapped her hands. “And I hope they have good beans. Mama makes the best baked beans in the whole world.”
“I’d have to argue with you there,” Cameron said. “My nana wears that crown, and if you don’t believe me, you’ll have to go to Sunday dinner with me sometime over at her house.”
“I’d have to taste them before I’d agree with you, and I got to tell you, my mother’s will be a hard act to follow.”
She was definitely flirting with him, and suddenly he got cold feet. There were at least a hundred reasons why he should shut this down, and number one was that they were partners. They had come pretty damn close to going inside and having sex that morning. Thank God she had the good sense to stop it, and they could think about things before they dived into that passion pool.
What if they did get physically involved, and then it fizzled? They’d still be partners and things would get awkward in a hurry, but what if it didn’t burn out after the first few weeks and turned into a serious relationship? Could they take it to that plane and still work together?
“You sure got quiet,” she commented when he pulled his truck into the parking lot of the barbecue place.
“Thinkin’ about those baked beans.” JJ would have called that a half lie, and those didn’t matter since they weren’t one hundred percent fibs. Cameron had been thinking about food earlier, so it was not a full-fledged lie.
“You must be hungry,” she said as she unfastened her seat belt and got out of the truck before he could rush around and open the door for her.
“Look!” She pointed at two cardinals, a bright-red male and his lady friend, sitting on the bench outside the door. “Still think it’s not a sign of some kind?”
“Coincidence,” he muttered as he held the door for her.
The restaurant was nearly empty, which did not bode well for its reputation in Cameron’s opinion, but the waitress told them to sit anywhere they wanted and was quick to bring them a menu once they’d chosen a table. “We’re only going to be open for another hour, so y’all just got here in time. We are out of smoked chicken, but we’ve still got almost everything else.”