Her fashion sense was beyond on-point with her auburn hair and signature diamond dangly earrings, which made it clear she did not belong there. After breaking from her embrace, I grabbed her suitcase from the ground and threw my arms around it.
She wrinkled her nose. “What in the hell are you wearing?”
“Let’s just say I had a clothing debacle. Please tell me you over-packed?”
“Of course I did. What kind of heretic do you take me for?”
“Yes!”
Once inside, she got pulled into several hugs before I grabbed her hand and dragged her to her room with the bulging suitcase bumping along behind her. Bulging and bumping…dear God, I was having dirty thoughts about Jax now.
I blinked back tears of joy as I slid into her Dolce & Gabbana slim fit jeans, the Ralph Lauren soft black v-neck t-shirt, hugged by a long, merlot cashmere sweater. It was all topped off by the LV x YK silhouette ankle boots that were black, with a little polka dot heel. I was in love.
“Let’s go downstairs. I’m starved.” I grabbed her hand, and we were off.
Three pancakes and another cup of coffee later, I was bouncing off the flipping walls.
“I was shocked at the weather this week. So warm for October.” Zoey slammed down the last of her Bloody Mary.
“It’s beautiful alright. Hey, I just restored my 1974 Dodge Charger.” My dad sat back in his chair. “Why don’t you girls take it out for a spin? Enjoy the morning.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Really? You saw me on a four-wheeler, and you’re going to trust me with a muscle car?”
He belly laughed. “No way! As I recall, you don’t have a license.” He pulled the keys from his pocket and tossed them to Zoey. “Let’s leave this one to Zoey. It’s in the garage. Have fun.”
I leaned into Zoey and spoke out of the corner of my mouth. “You don’t have a license either.”
“Rat me out, bitch, and I’ll leave you for dead on the side of the road.” Zoey tossed the keys back and forth in her hands, the jingling drowning out the sound of her threat from the others’ ears.
Ten minutes later, we were weaving along Highway 370 with the roof down and the radio set too loud.
On both sides of the mountain highway were lush forests decorated with fall foliage of reds, browns, and stunning yellows. The road was nearly empty; we had only passed one car since we left my dad’s.
As we tooled along, my eyes took in a beautiful white cloud sitting in the bright blue sky above. “Look, Zoey! Stop! That cloud looks exactly like a pepper! Do you see the stem?” I yanked my phone from my back pocket and held it out, attempting to capture the amazing sight above as Zoey swerved.
“Damn it, Madison! Stop it with the cloud! You’re distracting me, and you’re going to get us killed.”
“But it looks like a pepper. So pull over and let me get a shot for my Instagram.”
She slowly brought the car to a stop, just off the road.
I looked up and started snapping away.
“About Damn Time,” Zoey screamed, stood on the seat, and began to sing and dance. We had a thing for Lizzo. I took pictures of her, and then she got out and pointed to the woods beside us. “Let’s do an Instagram post from over there. Leave the car. We’ll just be a minute.”
We walked about twenty feet into the woods and hit record. We did our thing, and it was going great until the sound of breaking branches filled the air, and we hauled ass out of there.
We got in the car at record speed, and my heart was racing. “What in the hell was that? Do you think it’s a bear?”
Zoey quickly started the car and looked over her shoulder. “Or a serial killer. Let’s go.”
She hit the gas, but we didn’t move. She pushed harder, and suddenly mud flew from the back tires onto the back of our heads. “What is happening?” Zoey hit the pedal one more time.
“Stop, stop!” I cut my hands through the air. “Shit! You got mud all over my hair! And in the backseat. Dad is going to strangle you.”
I got out of the car and walked to the back to see the back tires were sunk in the mud. I shook my head and knocked off a few mud clumps with my foot, my mind searching for a plan.
Zoey joined me and shook her head. “Really?”
