I needed to relax. I needed to unwind. I needed to see the good in things.
The past few months had been rough, and I was ready to get away from it all. People who I thought loved me were nothing more than assholes. I lost my roommate and the only friend I’d ever made over the years. The career I worked hard for was lying in shreds on the floor, and now?
Now, I was useless.
I watched out the window while the clouds began to cover up what was left of the dying sun. Winter didn’t look good on a state like Kansas, and I was ready to be home. Winter and powdery snow looked glorious on my childhood home. I loved waking up to the smell of fresh powder sitting on my outside windowsill. I adored running around in it, spinning around until I fell down and soaked my clothes with it. My favorite memories of home were snowball fights with my mother while Dad made his famous, homemade hot chocolate, complete with multicolored marshmallows melting on top.
The door ripping open pulled me from my thoughts, and the smell of coffee wafted up my nostrils. Oh, what I wouldn’t give for a hot cup of coffee right now. But because of the life decision I’d made and the idiots I’d trusted, I had no money to my name. Not even enough to afford gas station coffee.
“Ready?” he asked.
“As I’ll ever be,” I said, sighing.
He shifted gears and pulled out onto the road, and soon, the tension filled the car again. I looked over at him, studying the way he drove. He even drove as rigidly as he looked. His hands were at ten and two on the steering wheel, white-knuckling it while he drove exactly the speed limit. His black hair was parted perfectly to the side and swooped away from his forehead, enhancing the harshness of his gaze, despite the boyish charm of his bright, blue eyes.
I bet if I could make him smile, they would glisten with Christmas joy.
“So, who’s waiting for you on the other end of this trip?” I asked.
He flickered his gaze over toward me but didn’t say a word.
“My parents are waiting for me,” I said. “They’re excited. I always come home to spend Christmas with them.”
And still, there was nothing.
“Who do you spend Christmas with?” I asked.
“I don’t,” he said.
“You don’t what?”
“Spend Christmas,” he said.
“You don’t spend Christmas with anyone?” I asked.
“No. I don’t celebrate it.”
“You… you don’t celebrate Christmas?” I asked, giggling. “Are you serious?”
His face remained stoic, and his lips didn’t budge.
“Who in the world doesn’t celebrate Christmas?” I asked.
“More than half the people in the world,” he said. “And me.”
“Ah, so you do have a bit of humor in you?”
“No, you asked a question, and I answered it,” he said.
“Of course,” I said, nodding. “Well, Burnsville’s where I grew up. My parents have lived there all their lives. Went to high school together and married the moment they graduated.”
I looked over at him to give him time to offer up anything about his life, but all he did was stare out the window.
“I’m actually coming from California, though,” I said. “San Diego. You?”
I heard him sigh, and then, he finally relented. He finally offered up something about himself.
“Same,” he said.
It wasn’t much, but it was something.
“What were you doing in San Diego?” I asked.
“Business.”
“What kind of business are you in?”
I watched his brow furrow deeply, like I’d just stepped on the tail of his favorite kitty or something. He refused to answer the question, and I sighed, allowing my gaze to drift out the window for a bit.
“Would you mind if I called my parents?” I asked. “You know, to update them on my travel plans?”
“Sure,” he said.
“Great. Thanks.”
I held out my hand for his cellphone, and he looked at me like I was an idiot. He quickly turned his sights back onto the road while I wiggled my fingers, but when he didn’t relent, I had to start talking again.
“Look, I know talking’s not your thing and all, but if you keep making me explain everything, I’m not gonna shut up,” I said.
“Why are you holding your hand out?” he asked.
“My phone died on the plane,” I said. “I need to borrow yours.”
He groaned before he clenched his jaw, but he finally dug his phone out and dropped it into my hand.
“Wow, is this a fully-loaded phone, too?” I asked.
“Yes,” he said plainly. “Because I use it for business purposes, too.”
I looked down at his phone in my hand, and I got an idea. If he wasn’t going to tell me much about him, then I could just Google him. Hell, you could Google anyone nowadays in order to figure out a little bit about them, and this Colin Murphy guy was practically forcing my hand!
So, I punched in his name to see what came up.
“Whoa,” I said.
“Hmm?” he asked.
“You’re really something, aren’t you?” I asked.
He looked over at me with that same furrowed brow, and I turned his phone around to him. There were numerous pictures of him, along with his business information, and he looked at me as if my head had popped off. I smiled and went back to scrolling through things, reading out headlines to him while he drove.
“‘Internet mogul stitches together markets.’ ‘Young entrepreneur to rewire the stock market.’ ‘Colin Murphy, the Jeff Bezos of international marketing.’”
“You can stop now,” he said.
