Page 78 of Pursuing Desire

After last night, I have no doubts about Jess’s feelings toward Anthony. However, there’s still a part of me that wonders if she might secretly hope he’ll change. And if he changed, would she go back to him? She loved him enough to get engaged and buy a home together. Would it be so easy for her to turn her back on that?

Just thinking that there could be even a remote possibility that Jess could go back to that loser puts me in a bad mood. I have to shake myself out of it before I get into the car.

Jess is already getting into the passenger seat. I do a final check around the car. Everything looks okay, so I also get in.

“Ready for our next adventure?” I ask her.

“Always! Any clue as to where we’re going?” she asks.

I think for a moment. “Well, if we follow the current trend, I’m guessing we are working our way along the perimeter of the United States. Oregon or Washington State, maybe?”

Jess’s phone starts buzzing. She picks it up and reads the message out loud.

“You will be taking a trip to Seattle, Washington.”

“Mystery solved,” I tell her. “I’ll start driving, and you can help me navigate once we get on the interstate.”

I pull out of the parking lot and come to an immediate stop. Traffic.

Jess looks up from her phone and groans. “Ugh.”

“It’s rush hour. This could take a while,” I tell her.

Jess goes back to her phone and starts mapping out our route while I focus on the traffic. It’s pretty heavy this morning, but I’m hopeful it’ll get better once we get off the highway and onto the interstate.

That hope is dashed when I look beyond the car in front of us and see the sea of brake lights up ahead.

Stop and go. Stop and go.

“Guess I’ll settle in for the ride,” Jess says as she slips off her shoes.

“Might as well,” I sigh. “It’s probably about fifteen hours to get to Seattle. We’ll have to stop for the night at some point.”

Hours later, Jess snaps her e-reader closed. “I can’t read anymore. Want me to take a turn driving? You must be tired,” she says.

“Nah, I’m good. I enjoy driving,” I tell her. “Besides, if you were driving, you wouldn’t be able to spend the rest of the day staring at me.”

“I have better things to do than stare at you,” she says, laughing.

“Like what? I’ve seen how you look at me with your googly eyes, practically stripping me naked. It’s unnerving how badly you want my hot bod. I’m starting to feel a little self-conscious,” I joke.

She thinks for a moment. “Unfortunately, you’re the only hot bod in the car, so I can’t help it if my googly eyes gravitate towards you. There’s literally nothing else to do than stare at you. I need to get out of this damn car.”

I smile at her, laughter in my chest. “We’re only a few hours in. Long way to go.”

“Ugh.”

I glance up at the camera and notice the red light is lit. “It’s good though. Gives us some time to talk without cameras in our faces,” I say a little more seriously.

She looks at me suspiciously. “Talk about what?”

“You and me. Our relationship.”

There’s a long silence.

She turns her head and looks out the window. “We’re having this conversation already?”

Confused, I ask, “What do you mean?”