Page 90 of Baker

“It’s a street-legal race car.”

“How handy is that?” I asked, my tone sarcastic as hell. “You can go get groceries and then go race.”

He grinned. “You sure could.”

I gestured toward the rear of the car with my thumb. “The trunk’s kind of small, though.”

He laughed. “That’s the engine compartment.”

I looked behind me. “Back there?”

“Yep.”

“Where’s the trunk?”

He extended his index finger and pointed toward the hood. “Up there.”

“We should be driving in reverse.” I laughed. “That’s ridiculous.”

“It gives it perfect weight distribution.”

“What if you put a watermelon and a few steaks under the hood?” I asked with a laugh. “Then you’d be top heavy or whatever.”

“When you go to the racetrack, you make sure your watermelons are at home,” he said dryly.

He didn’t see the humor in me making fun of the car. It was cute, but I wasn’t near as fascinated with it as he was. I’d become spoiled by the Saturday night bike rides, and I wasn’t thrilled that we were driving to who knows where at noon on a Saturday in his Porsche.

After four hours, we stopped for gas. He filled the car, and we went into the gas station together to get a drink and snack.

“We’re eating at this mystery place?” I asked.

“We are. One more hour. Maybe forty-five minutes. We can get a snack.”

I grabbed a Bottle of water and a sack of Doritos. Upon seeing them, he stopped and pointed to the rack of chips. “I don’t allow Doritos.”

“In the car?”

“Anywhere,” he said. “I’ll vomit.”

“You’ll vomit if I eat them?”

“I will.” He glared at the bag. “Can’t even stand to look at the damned things.”

“Okay. Well.” I looked around the store. A display of Chex Mix caught my eye. “What about that?”

“Fine with me. Doritos are my only no-no.”

“Superstition?” I asked.

“Actually, it is.”

I grabbed a bag of nacho cheese flavored goodness. “I’ll get the Chex Mix, then.”

He grabbed a Moon Pie and a Mountain Dew. On the way back to the car, I made a comment about the selection.

“That doesn’t seem to fit you.”

“Highway food is different than any other food. When I was a kid, my aunt and I would take a vacation every summer. She thought they’d settle me down, but they never did. I’d always get a Moon Pie and a Mountain Dew.”