Joey

After we packed everything into the saddlebags and secured them, Percy pointed across the street. “Diner over there. Let’s eat, and then we can hit the road.”

The sun was peeking over the tips of the mountains in the distance. I shifted my eyes from the sunrise to him. “Sounds good.”

“You okay?”

I drew a deep breath of the cool air, and gave a nod. “Just enjoying the scenery.”

“Makes two of us.”

He hadn’t so much as glanced eastward, and what was behind me was nothing more than a parking lot filled with pickup trucks and an occasional car. My scenery was awesome. His scenery sucked.

He grinned. “You ready?”

“Yep.”

“If we eat and hit the road, should be there by late afternoon. It’s less than 600 miles.”

I looked forward to our time on the road, but the thought of meeting my cousin made me nervous.

“Sounds good.”

We rode across the street and parked the bike where we could see it through the windows.

Percy opened the door. “After you.”

I stepped inside and looked around. The diner was a step back in time, for sure. Two elderly women wearing aprons appeared to be the only waitresses. One, coffee pot in hand, turned toward us.

“Any seat you like,” she said. “Want coffee?”

“Two, please,” he responded.

We chose a booth opposite where the bike was parked and sat down. A small chrome box at the end of the booth with a series of buttons on the bottom was mounted at the end of the booth, by the window.

The letters A through K and the numbers 1 through 10 were on the face of the buttons.

I leaned toward the box. “What is this?”

“Juke box,” he said.

“It plays music?”

“It’s old school as fuck. If it still works, that’s what it does.”

I flipped through the pages of songs. After glancing at three pages, one caught my complete attention.

“Bob Seger,” I gasped. “Roll Me Away.”

“Good tune,” he said.

My eyes shot to him. “It was one of my mom’s favorites.”

The waitress pointed toward the condiment rack and then sat two cups of coffee down. “Menus are right there.”

“Does this work?” I asked.

“Sure does. Two for a quarter. No cheaper music in the entire valley.”

Percy tossed two quarters onto the table. “Pick your four favorites.”

“I’ll be right back to take your order,” the waitress said.

“I know what I want,” Percy said.

“Me too.”

The waitress looked at me and cocked her eyebrow playfully.

“Three eggs over medium, hash browns, bacon, and wheat toast.”

She grinned and looked at Percy.

“Same.”

She scribbled on her pad. “Easy enough.”

As she walked away, Percy looked at me. “Always eat your eggs over medium?”

“I’ll eat them scrambled if I cook them, but not in a restaurant. They never make them right.”

He chuckled.

“What?’

He shook his head. “Nothing.”

I reached for the quarters, and then looked the music choices over. After two passes through the entire selection, I chose four songs.

As Bob Seger’s Roll Me Away began, I closed my eyes. Percy must have enjoyed the song as much as me, because he didn’t speak the entire time.

When the song ended, I opened my eyes.

“What other three did you pick?”

“The Weight by The Band, Janis Joplin’s Me and Bobby McGee, and I Wish It Would Rain, by the Temptations.”

“Damn. Where’d you get your taste in music?”

“You don’t like them?”

“Shit,” he said with a light laugh. “Sounds like what I would have picked.”

“My dad was ten years older than my mom,” I explained. “He was born in 1965, so he’d be 52 now. Mom always said he influenced her musical taste. I grew up listening to these songs. It’s better than the crap they make today.”

The Weight, by The Band started to play.

From the opening word, I began to sing along quietly. After a few seconds, Percy joined in. We both grinned, singing word for word as we gazed at each other.

The waitress slid the plates in front of us. It didn’t stop us from singing.

Percy gave her a nod.

“Cutest couple I’ve seen in a long time.” She smiled. “Enjoy.”

When the song ended, we reached for our plates. As the other two played, we ate our breakfast.

“You’re an old soul.” He pushed his plate to the side and reached for his coffee. “I like that about you.”

I folded my toast in two and poked it in my mouth. “I pretty much like everything about you. So far, anyway.”

He shook his head. “Got a question for you.”

I took a drink of coffee. “Okay.”

“When we get back from this trip, would you consider going out?”

I had no idea what he was talking about. I wrinkled my nose and stared back at him. “What do you mean?”

“Go out,” he said.

“Huh?”

“You’re making this tougher than it ought to be.” He let out a sigh. “I want to take you on a date. I’m asking you if you’d consider going out with me. On a date.”

Holy cow.

My throat went dry.

I had no idea what a woman felt when a man asked her to marry him. At least not until that moment. My guess was that what I felt was identical. It had to be.

I picked my jaw up from the floor and calmly took a sip of my tepid coffee. “A date? Like, you and me going out on a date? A real date?”

He nodded. “That’s what I was thinking.”

All my years of desire had somehow come to fruition. I was shaking from the excitement of it all, but clenched the coffee cup tightly in my hands to mask it.

I met his wondrous gaze, offered him a smile, and gave the only answer I could.

“I’d love to.”