Driving Me Mad (18 page)

“Who are you texting?” Mom
asks with a grin.

“Probably that secret
boyfriend of hers,” Dad answers.

“He’s not a secret.”

“Oh, yeah? Then tell us about
him.” Mom raises an eyebrow and waits.

“Um,” I falter, unsure what
to say about Trace that wouldn’t give him away.

“Start simple. How old is
he?” Mom asks.

“Thirty-one.” Mom and Dad
exchange cautious glances at one another. “It’s not that big of a
leap,” I defend.

“How did you meet him?” Dad
wants to know.

“I’ve known him for a
while.”

“That doesn’t tell us how.”
He folds his arms over his chest, and I sigh.

“We just started dating, Dad.
Can’t you wait until things are serious to learn our history?”

He gets back to the skillet,
quiet as he thinks. “Fine. You can be secretive about your
boyfriend all you want. We will want all details once you’ve been
dating him for three months. That’s me being generous.”

Mom is quick to add, “We’re
just worried about you, Brittany. You are being really quiet about
him, and that’s new.”

I hate making my parents
worry, and that’s pretty much all I do. “I want to wait because our
relationship is already hard. I want to make sure we look like
we’ll last before any introductions or getting too used to talking
about him with y’all.”

“Why is it hard already?” Dad
asks.

“Well, I have my anxiety and
depression, and he has depression. We’ve been experiencing them at
the same time.”

Another glance is exchanged
between the two of them. Mom’s lips are pursed and Dad is frowning.
It looks like I’m not the only one who wonders if we can work when
we both have such issues. My parents don’t say this to me,
though.

“Are you happy?” Dad
asks.

“Very.”

“That’s all we need to know
right now, then.”

They drop the subject, and we
enjoy our meal with no more talk of Trace. Unfortunately, I realize
they’ve given me a deadline. I have two months before I have to
tell my parents who he is. Let’s hope that’s plenty of time for
Trace to get used to the idea and be prepared to tell them.

The weekend with my parents
flies by. Mom made sure that our time was as relaxing as possible.
We mostly stayed home, but she did take us out for massages
yesterday. Right now, I’m driving back and I’m almost to Trace’s
house. This weekend was just what I needed. My anxiety was low, and
I got a break, just like my parents wanted.

I park my car in his driveway
and jog to the front door, excited to see him and make sure he’s
all in one piece. He didn’t text me much while I was gone. Maybe
because he felt like he was intruding or because he didn’t want to
text me too much while I was with my parents. I’m not sure, but I
missed him. I knock rapidly on his door in my excitement, and it
swings open seconds later.

He’s smiling. He looks
well-rested. He seems happy to see me. All very good things. I
throw my arms around him, smiling when he pulls me closer.

“I’ve missed you,” he
whispers in my ear.

“I missed you too.”

Trace pulls me into the
house, closing the door behind us. “How was it?”

“Fantastic. I’m really glad I
went. That’s my good news,” I say as we take a seat on the
couch.

He frowns. “Does that mean
there is bad news?”

“Sort of.” I angle toward him
and begin to explain. “The subject of my boyfriend came up again.
My parents think it’s unusual that I haven’t told them much, but
they’re willing to wait in the dark for two more months. But then,
if we’re still together, I have to tell them.”

Pride hits me when Trace
doesn’t panic. He seems to slowly take in the news. I watch him
carefully, waiting for him to respond. “That’s not too bad. I’m
good with that.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. It still makes me
nervous, but I have two months to get used to the idea.” He smiles.
“Are you going to stay here for a bit or head back to campus?”

“I planned to hang with you
for a while.”

“Good. You can watch
Dateline
with me.” Trace gets up to make popcorn and grab us
a couple of Sun Drops.

When he returns, I say,
“Also, more good news is I’ve gained some of the weight back that I
lost.”

Trace grins. “I know; I can
tell. That’s good.” He hands me the bowl of popcorn, grabs the
remote, and finds the recording. “By the way, our romantic date
will last the entire weekend. The plan is to leave once I get off
work, so if you could be here and be ready, that’d be great. Oh,
and pack a bathing suit.”

I tilt my head. “You’re
taking me away for the weekend?”

“Yep.”

“To a place where I’ll need a
bikini?”

“Yep.”

“And you’re not telling me
where?”

“Nope.”

“Not even if I said surprises
give me anxiety?” That’s true. I don’t like entering the
unknown.

Trace looks over at me.
“You’ll be with me, Britt. I’ll take care of you. Unless you don’t
trust me to do that?”

“No, I do.” I trust him as
much as I trust my parents. “Take me wherever you want, and I’ll go
with you without any hesitation.”

He leans over to kiss me.
“It’ll be the best weekend, promise.”

I believe him, too. Maybe I
worry about us, about myself, about school, about my family, and a
million other things. I worry about Trace some, too. I can’t help
it. However, I have the utmost faith and trust in Trace. I believe
what he says, believe he will follow through, and believe he’ll
take care of me. It’s in this moment that my worries about us
lasting fade away. With a guy like Trace being as fantastic a
boyfriend as he is, how can we ever fail?

***

B
rittany slowly
came off her old medication before starting the new one. She hasn’t
been on it long at all, only two days, but so far, she hasn’t had
any negative side effects. It gets me so excited because we could
potentially have a problem-free weekend for our romantic time away
from home. I think my increase in meds has helped me too. Our week
has been calm and blissful. I’m on my way home from work to pick
Brittany up and head to a cabin in the mountains. It’s an obvious
yet perfect place to go during the winter.

I laugh when I pull into the
driveway. Brittany is sitting on the porch with her luggage and a
tote next to her. Crazy girl. I gave her a key earlier this week so
she’d be able to get in.

“Aren’t you cold?” I ask once
I get out.

“I’m excited about our trip,”
she answers, standing up. She lifts on her tiptoes to press her
freezing cold lips to my mouth. “Ready?”

“Yep.” She keeps hold of her
tote and purse, but I take her luggage from her and lead her to the
car. I put my things in the car this morning.

“How long will it take us to
get there?”

“A few hours.”

“Then, I’m going to work on
homework.” She pulls out a textbook and a book light. So that’s
what was in the tote.

“Why haven’t you done it
already?”

She cuts me a glare. “One of
my classes is online, and the instructor just posted our
assignments today. If I can get a chapter read and do my work
Sunday or Monday, then why not? It’s not like we’re doing anything
right now.” Brittany slips off her shoes and props her feet on my
dash.

“As long as the tote stays in
the car once we get there. This is a homework-free weekend.”

“What if we have free
time?”

“It’s a
romantic
weekend, remember? That means no free time and no homework because
we’re going to be busy doing romantic things.”

“Don’t get your panties in a
bunch, Trace,” she laughs. “I’ll leave it in the car.” She would
take it inside and try to work on it if I let her, though.

“Is the radio going to bother
you?”

She reaches out and turns it
down a little to where it’s low background music. “That okay?”

“Yeah, that’s fine.”

The drive is boring. Brittany
finishes her reading just as I pull into a grocery store only a few
miles from our final stop.

“Where are we?”

“Bryson City. We’ll need some
food, and then we can go to the cabin.”

The smile Brittany gives me
is worth everything. She has genuine smiles that she gives me, but
this is a mega-watt, happy to the nth degree kind of smile. And I’m
the one who put it there! I lean over and give her a quick kiss
before we get out of the car.

“Do we need a cart?” she
asks.

“A basket should work.”

She grabs a basket and we
head to the meat department to pick out a few things. Next are a
few simple sides. Finally, I lead her through the store to the
marshmallows. She surprises me by not asking any questions as I
grab a bag, then a jar of peanut butter, and lastly, a box of Ritz
crackers. I brought cases of Sun Drop, just so I wouldn’t have to
worry about drinks, so we’re done shopping now. Which is good
because we were on the verge of needing a cart.

“Question,” Brittany says as
we check out. I glance to her. “Why did I bring my bikini if we’re
spending the weekend at a cabin in the mountains?”

“There’s a hot tub.”

Her response is a simple
smile and a nod. Once I’ve paid for everything, we leave the store
and finish the drive to the cabin. The gravel driveway is a little
long, leading to a secluded one-story cabin. Brittany grabs most of
the groceries while I get our luggage. The key was left under a
flower pot since we would be arriving late.

“This place is so cozy!”
Brittany says as she begins unloading the groceries.

“Glad you like it.” I kiss
her temple. “I’m going to grab the drinks.”

When I come back in, Brittany
has already popped a pizza in the oven. Tonight’s meal is simple
and easy because of how late it is. Brittany begins looking around,
peeking into the rooms, and checking out the back porch, which
overlooks the mountains.

“How’d you find this place?”
she asks, coming back into the kitchen to wrap her arms around my
waist.

“My old boss owns it and I
called him. He owed me a favor.”

“Why?”

“His wife would come by a few
times a week to eat lunch with him. One time, she was talking to
all of us about her birthday and dropping hints about what she
wanted. He wasn’t paying attention at all, so I had to tell him
what she wanted. It was a big birthday for her, so he owed me.”

Brittany smiles. “Look at
you. Always coming in to save the day.” She lifts up to kiss me.
“Do we have plans this weekend?”

I shrug. “No plans, but the
options are be lazy, explore, or stay in bed,” I finish with a
grin.

She rolls her eyes and steps
away from me to check on the pizza. “I’m going with alternating
between exploring and being lazy.”