I woke up on Saturday, feeling as refreshed as I had since the day that I took Ash out surfing. The energy was charged with excitement as Ash and Carmen battled over who cooked what for breakfast, and I headed to the shower to get ready for the day.
Two hours after eating and getting ready, we followed Ash’s dad and Carmen’s minivan toward the freeway, and that was honestly the last we saw of them. God in heaven, the Ash that I’d come to know sure as hell wasn’t the woman behind the wheel of her car. Part of me wondered if I should’ve fought her harder to drive or even took the risk of the media chasing our asses up to Santa Clarita in my car. This was not the ideal situation I expected us to be in while driving, and it wasn’t because I drove like a damn race car driver in my car at times, either.
A blaring horn from the car passing us once the freeway opened up made me jump, yet Ash was steadfast, driving worse than a granny who couldn’t see over the steering wheel.
“Is this a joke?” I asked, glancing over my shoulder to see an eighteen-wheeler, riding up on our ass.
“Is what a joke?” she asked, hands at ten and two, sitting a little too upright in her seat. “My driving?” She looked over her shoulder and flipped off a car that had honked at her.
“You might as well flip me off also,” I said with a smile. “You’re driving too damn slow for comfort. I’d say get in the slow lane, but you might cause those poor truckers to lose their momentum.”
“I’m doing the speed limit, Jake,” she said, not taking her eyes off the road.
“Well, the speed limit is sixty-five, babe, and the big-rig on our ass is going to roll over the top of us if you don’t speed up some.”
“Stop telling me how to drive,” she said with a nervous laugh.
“She surfs, she says she’ll go sky diving with me, scuba, all this shit that puts her life at a greater risk than a goddamn drive on the freeway.” I readjusted my sunglasses. “Is the car gutless, or are you?”
“Don’t make fun of the car. It drives fine.”
“Then drive it, sweetheart,” I encouraged her. “Seriously, that or pull over and let me drive.”
“I hate freeways. They make me nervous,” she stated. “But I am driving.”
“You’re not driving. You’re going to get us killed by driving too slow.”
“I’m doing sixty-five now, happy?”
“Your knuckles are white. So now you’re nervously driving.” I shook my head. “Your dad lost us as soon as we hit the freeway. That’s saying a lot.”
“My dad drives like a maniac.”
“And I don’t?” I asked. “I’ve had you in my car going over a hundred miles per hour and on the bike opened wide up, and so I’m wondering if between then and now you were somehow possessed and you’re not the same person I remember?”
“Close your eyes if you’re that worried about it. I’m in the middle lane and out of everyone’s way now.”
I reclined my seat some. As frustrating as Ash’s cautious driving was, it was also comedy. I had no idea she feared driving out on the open highway and would make a note to myself to insist—in front of her dad—that I get the keys and drive us home…after we showed up an hour after them to the cemetery, of course.
I opted to scroll through my emails instead of watching the catastrophe that was Ash’s driving. The woman was going to force me into high blood pressure if I wasn’t careful.
“What are you looking up?” she asked after fifteen minutes of me finally shutting up about her driving.
“Side-by-side plots,” I said while reading through an article from a London-based hospital.
“Side by, what?” She laughed.
“Burial plots,” I answered, still reading.
“Ah,” she said, smoothly changing lanes back to the slower lane.
I kept my mouth shut.
“So, where are you looking to purchase graves for us to be buried after we both pass on?”
“Well, I believe it would be easier if I just purchased the plots for us up at the place we’re interning your mom. You know, we’re already halfway there and more than likely halfway into the grave ourselves.”
“Oh, God,” she said as she shook her head. “Seriously. Talk to me. I’m getting bored.”
“Well,” I said, wanting to finish this article on a new treatment, “I figure I’d like us to have side-by-side plots under a tree.”
“Because we’re going to get too much sun from our caskets being six feet under the ground?”
“Perhaps. I want it to be a comfortable final resting place since the way we’re most likely going out is not going to be comfortable at all.”
She smacked me in my arm, pulling me out of the article. “You’re such an idiot. My driving is fine, and we’re making good time.”
“Say what you want about that.”
“Fine, you can drive us home,” she conceded.
“Thank God,” I answered. “I was planning to pry the keys out of your hand while you said your final goodbyes to your mother.”
“That would’ve been a dick move.” She smiled.
“It would’ve, but at least it would save me a shit-ton of money in arranging our funerals on the drive up to spare everyone else the trouble.”
She sighed. “The exit is right up here.”
“And so she amazes me once again,” I said, sitting up and praying that she was cool with exiting the damn freeway because God knows she barely managed the on-ramp.
“See, we’re safe, and it’s because I don’t drive like a bat out of hell like you.”
“You know those cars that drive themselves?” I said, gripping the armrest with her jerky breaking, feeling like I was with a student driver on their first time out.
“What about them?”
“As soon as we get back, I’m buying you one. Jesus Christ almighty, I’m never letting you drive like this again. At least I know the car will take over and keep you safer than you driving like this.”
“Breaks are just touchy. I don’t need a new car, Jake.”
“You’re getting one anyway. Consider it a gift for being the best girl in my life.”
“Nice try. Get me some daisies then, not a damn car.”
I smiled over at her. How many women had I been around who were all about my money? Too many to count. Then there was Ash, the woman who was with me even when my mistakes of the past came to haunt me. I’d already sensed her not being about the money when I saw her passion directed toward other things instead—like nature, life, helping others—and it attracted me to her like none other.
“I’m getting you the car so you can remain alive and the best girl in my life.” I ran my hand over her tense arm, “Next time, let me drive, Supergirl. You’re as tense as fuck.”
“I should have,” she said. “I just wanted you to relax after everything. Driving up here was a favor you were doing for me.”
“It’s a part of your life I’m proud to be a part of. I love you, and I can easily see that this is a big day for you. I wouldn’t miss it for anything.” I glanced over my shoulder as she merged onto the street that led to the cemetery. “Although we both almost completely missed it. That or I would have gotten to meet your mother personally with the way those rigs were riding up on our ass this entire trip.”
“Well, we survived it. You can meet Mom another time,” she said, pulling into the cemetery and parking next to where her dad and Carmen stood next to their car, talking to Joe and Clay.
“I wonder how long they’ve been out here waiting?” I questioned with a smile.
“Shut up,” she said. “I’m already going to hear shit from Clay and Joe for not letting you drive.”
I looked at her over the silver rim of my sunglasses. “You’re kidding me, right?”
“No.” She giggled. “They hate the way I drive.”
“You’re too much.” I brought my hand to her neck. “Get over here, gorgeous,” I said, kissing her, and, in the process, taking the keys out of the ignition and putting them in my pocket. I opened the door. “Let’s not keep your mother or anyone else waiting any longer than we already have,” I said, seeing more than a few others who were attending this internment.
“Why did Dad have to invite them?” she asked.
“Who?” I asked, seeing two families with young women Ash’s age.
“Just family. I have no idea who they are.”
“Do it for him too, Ash. I know it sucks, but this is about you and your dad. The rest of us are here to support you.”
She linked our hands together and smiled up at me. “I love you.”
I kissed her temple. “You put my very own thoughts about you into words. You ready for this?”
“More than ever.” Her eyes were hidden behind sunglasses, but I could see the smile in them. “If it weren’t for you, I know Dad and I wouldn’t be here right now. Thank you for this.”
I held onto that with everything that I was. I hoped that no matter how dirty shit might get with lawyers and this scandal I was trying to manage, Ash would remember how she was feeling about me right now. Would I take credit for this? No. Ash did this herself. I was just a means to help her back into living a full and happy life that she deserved.
