Katie turned her head and eyed him with the slightest hint of suspicion. “By ‘go-bag,’ do you mean a bag you keep in case you get lucky and need a change of clothes for the next morning? ‘Cause I’ll be really disappointed if that’s the case.”
Carson laughed. “No, and even if it was, all you have to do is check the expiration date on the toothpaste in it to see how often I hook up with women. The bag’s a habit I carried over from my military days, because I used to get calls to be somewhere right now, and I feel out of sorts without it.”
She nodded. “I like that explanation a lot better.”
“Now that we’ve got that cleared up, be a doll and go get it for me, would ya?”
Katie scoffed. “Oh, I’m pretty sure you didn’t just call me ‘doll’ and tell me to fetch your stuff, did you?”
He grinned languidly, as if anticipating that response. “Well, unless you want me to parade naked out in front of your house to get to my car, I don’t see another option.”
Less than five minutes later Katie watched Carson, with a chagrined look on his face, scurry out to the driveway, car keys in hand, wearing only a tiny satin bathrobe that just barely closed around his chest and mid-section and covered almost no part of his legs. Katie stood in the doorway, drinking her coffee and wearing her much more size-appropriate kimono. She watched Carson’s humiliation both at losing their little battle of logic and at him being so exposed in a quiet, rural neighborhood. When he dashed back into the house, he glared at her with all the malice he could muster, but all it did was send her into peals of laughter. Carson stared at her for a moment before joining in, and soon they were both doubled over in hysterics.
***
The scenery passed over the open top of the car and around Carson like it wanted to pull him up out of his seat and make him a part of it. It was his first time in a convertible, and he couldn’t get over how much an open roof made him feel like he could grab the wildflower fields and birch trees as they passed by. He’d been on the upper decks of boats, of course, but there he saw little more than water and sky. Here, the branches and weeds and their accompanying smells threatened to slap him in the face, and he marveled at the assault on his senses, even while he knew he would regret enjoying the ride so much.
After a quick breakfast they’d gone out to the car, and he’d rolled his eyes when she pressed the button to open the top of the convertible.
“What’s the problem?” she asked, clearly vexed.
“All you get with an open top is bugs and hot sun and wind,” he responded. “I like air conditioning and being able to hear the radio. I spent enough time in the service sweating in some swamp or shivering in freezing rain.”
Katie’s disgust was second only to her shock. “Big tough Navy guy, afraid of eating a June Bug. What kind of man have I gotten myself mixed up with?”
“Afraid and annoyed are two different things,” he protested in his defense as he got in the passenger seat, already peeved at feeling the hot late-morning sun beat down on his ears and neck.
Now, moving through the rural fields of the first state at 50 miles an hour with a refreshing breeze barely tousling his short hair and the beauty of the surroundings overwhelming him, he could feel Katie’s victory stare even though she watched the road more than him. He knew he would need to come up with a very good apology. Even in the realm of this playful competition, she’d just performed the equivalent of a slam-dunk from the foul line right over his outstretched arm. They drove past a couple of Southern Arrowwood trees with their brilliant white flowers and he knew he was just delaying the inevitable.
Sigh.
“It would seem,” he started, pausing to make sure he had Katie’s full attention, “that I underestimated the, uh, value of riding in a convertible.”
“You did?” she responded. “You mean I was right? That’s amazing! Isn’t it?”
Carson nodded in resignation. He knew he deserved to get shit from her, and the best course of action here was to take it and hope it would end soon. “No, it’s not amazing at all. I was wrong.”
“You were?” Her voice sounded like a character from Sesame Street shocked to discover there were six apples on the counter. “But you sounded so sure just a few minutes ago! Are you certain?”
“Yes, I’m certain. Are you done yet?”
She laughed maniacally, the noise rising above the howl of the wind. “Not sure yet. I’ll let you know.”
“Please do.” He settled back, knowing such deference was a small price to pay for the nearly-forgotten feeling that, at this moment, all was right with this world. It relaxed his weary bones and quieted the noises in his mind until he wondered if he’d reached some level of Zen or Nirvana or enlightenment. For a few moments, he ignored the transitory state of things and just enjoyed it. Only the slowing of the car brought him out of his nearly-trance like state.
“What’s up?” They were in a small pull-off next to the road. To his right was a colorful field of wild flowers with thick woods starting a couple of hundred yards further on.
“If this isn’t a beautiful place to take a walk, I don’t know what is.” She got out of the car and opened the trunk, pulling out a bag that appeared to contain, among other things, a blanket and a few refreshments. “Come on. I want to close the top and lock it up.” Carson complied, and a few moments later they were walking through a
