The holiday – and my first (hopefully last) experience with driving a ten foot U-Haul truck 170 miles means I’m posting this a day late. Yup. I now consider myself to be an honorary truck driver. Just because it wasn’t a semi doesn’t mean it wasn’t a big truck. Bigger than my van anyway.
So why did I drive a U-Haul? My daughter had to pick up the rest of her stuff from where she’d been living near Lake Michigan. She was totally up for giving it a shot but it was rainy, the day before a holiday, and the freeway was packed with nearly end-to-end vehicles. So I told her I’d do it. I wasn’t thrilled at the prospect but it wasn’t much different than driving a regular vehicle. A little more uncomfortable, especially after being stuck in a twenty-mile backup but we won’t get into that.
And how was your Thanksgiving? 😀
Okay. Before we get to the sneak peek, I wanted to share a video about a subject Lainey makes reference to. I decided I should provide proof that people actually do surf in Lake Michigan.
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Lainey probably set a speed record for shortest shower time in the history of showers, but after getting a good look in the mirror, she decided she needed to do some damage control. She’d just met two extremely good looking men—while wearing a sweat covered tee shirt, her sable brown ponytail wet and plastered to her neck. Definitely not an impression she ever wanted to make.
Wasting no time, she slipped into a pair of clean underwear, carefully but quickly brushed her hair out, then spent the next three minutes drying it as best she could. Since it hung to the middle of her back when loose, and there was plenty of it, she had to settle for slightly damp, clipping it back on the sides before slipping into a pair of denim capris and a soft white tank top. As an afterthought, she added a pair of red clip on earrings and a matching necklace. Glancing in the mirror on her way back to the kitchen, she was pleased with her ten minute transformation.
“What can I do to help?” she asked. Brenda was sitting at the counter putting a cheese and cracker plate together. The guys were nowhere to be seen.
“Just relax, cuz. Chase and Wesley are starting the coals, the burgers are ready in the refrigerator. All that’s left is the lettuce, tomatoes, and onions, but we’ve got plenty of time to get those ready.”
“I’ll just do it now, if that’s okay. I’ve been sitting most of the day.” And it was true, first in her car, then on the bike. Brenda nodded and she started rinsing the produce lying on the counter next to the sink.
“So what do you think of the grownup Cooper twins?”
“Well, other than the fact that they look a little like the guy from P.S., I Love You, they seemed nice enough.”
“They really are. Well, Chase is. I haven’t been around Wesley enough to know him well but I’ve been assured he doesn’t bite.”
“It doesn’t matter to me whether he does or not,” she said, laughing nervously. “Like I told you, I’m not interested in anything more than friends. Even if I was, one, I won’t be here long enough to do anything about it. And two, it’s been my experience that guys who look like that are definitely not into curvy girls.”
“You’re not curvy,” Brenda protested without the slightest hesitation. She’d always been her champion since they were kids and it didn’t seem like it was ever going to change. “You’re gorgeous. You always have been.”
“I don’t know that I’d go quite that far, but thanks.”
Lainey had been involved in three long term relationships with good looking, well-built men and had, in fact, been proposed to twice. But something had been missing and she’d regretfully turned them down. For as long as she could remember, she’d believed in the whole knight in shining armor, happily-ever-after thing—and she wasn’t settling for less.
