The Road That Leads to Us (Us 1)

“Good, I need to pee and we need to restock our snacks. I’m out of gum and I’m absolutely beside myself.”

“How are you doing on lollipops?” I asked, even though I knew.

“Getting pretty low. There’s only five left, so we’ll have to get more or I won’t share.”

“Oh, come on,” I grinned, holding out my hand, “give me one.”

She wrinkled her nose in disgust. “No, but here’s a sour gummy worm instead.” She dropped a red and blue one in my hand.

“Sour gummy worm…lollipop,” I mused, biting into the sour gummy worm, “those are two totally different things.”

“I said I wasn’t sharing until we got more.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “I mean, I’m not even having one. I have to ration them off until we find more. There’s always a chance the gas station might not even have them, so if I have one now and you have one, that leaves me with three. Three is a scary amount of lollipops to be left with.” She rambled endlessly.

“Willow, your logic amuses me, but I can’t argue with that.”

“Thank you for seeing things my way.” She grinned triumphantly.

A few minutes later I turned off at an exit and followed the signs to the gas station.

“Pee time!” Willow cried gleefully as she got out of the car and scurried into the building.

The burly guy pumping gas into his massive Dodge pickup truck beside me eyed me at her exclamation.

I shrugged as I pulled out my credit card and swiped it in the machine. “When you’ve gotta go, you’ve gotta go.”

He chuckled and shook his head.

I finished pumping the gas and waited outside for Willow.

A few minutes later she came running out, holding two bags overflowing with stuff. Willow always went overboard. She couldn’t help it.

“Did you get enough?” I joked.

“I think we’re good for a day or two,” she said seriously.

“Find any lollipops?” I asked her.

She nodded, rifling through the bag. “Lollipops and rock candy. That place is the holy grail of gas stations. They were even selling rocks carved into different animals. I got a turtle and I got you a dinosaur, and they even had a hedgehog so I got that one to bring back to my dad.”

I merely smiled at her and tossed my thumb over my shoulder. “Now I’ve gotta pee.”

“I’ll man the boat, Captain.” She saluted me as I jogged off.

When I returned a few minutes later it was to find Willow sitting behind the steering wheel, the white stick of a lollipop hanging out of her mouth, and her baseball cap sitting backwards on her head.

She looked endearingly adorable, but I scrunched my face up like I was mad.

“What are you doing, Will?” I asked, bending down to her eye level and grabbing the edge of the door.

She smirked at me and plucked the lollipop from her mouth. “I’m driving,” she said with a sly grin.

I pressed my tongue against the side of my cheek and tilted my head. “Since when do you know how to drive a stick shift?”

“Since you decided to teach me.” She smiled widely and patted the empty seat beside her. “Hop in sweet thang.” She winked.

“You’ll kill my transmission,” I grumbled.

She mock-gasped. “I’d do no such thing.”