Back Side Trip Save as PDF
Chapters (44)
  1. TITLE PAGE
  2. COPYRIGHT PAGE
  3. DEDICATION
  4. CONTENTS
  5. START READING
  6. CHAPTER 1
  7. CHAPTER 2
  8. CHAPTER 3
  9. CHAPTER 4
  10. CHAPTER 5
  11. CHAPTER 6
  12. CHAPTER 7
  13. CHAPTER 8
  14. CHAPTER 9
  15. CHAPTER 10
  16. CHAPTER 11
  17. CHAPTER 12
  18. CHAPTER 13
  19. CHAPTER 14
  20. CHAPTER 15
  21. CHAPTER 16
  22. CHAPTER 17
  23. CHAPTER 18
  24. CHAPTER 19
  25. CHAPTER 20
  26. CHAPTER 21
  27. CHAPTER 22
  28. CHAPTER 23
  29. CHAPTER 24
  30. CHAPTER 25
  31. CHAPTER 26
  32. CHAPTER 27
  33. CHAPTER 28
  34. CHAPTER 29
  35. CHAPTER 30
  36. CHAPTER 31
  37. CHAPTER 32
  38. CHAPTER 33
  39. EPILOGUE
  40. JOYRIDE
  41. COMING SUMMER 2021
  42. AUTHOR NOTE
  43. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  44. ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Joy peeked around the doorjamb. Judy sat on the edge of the bed, bent over as she untied her white sneaker. Todd lay on his side, stretched across the quilted bedspread. He rubbed Judy’s back, then ribs. His hand meandered up to her breast and copped a feel at the same instant he looked toward the doorway. He dropped his hand and Joy quickly leaned against the hallway wall, out of view, hoping she hadn’t been seen.

“What?” Taryn silently asked.

Joy pressed a finger against her lips. She didn’t want to miss their conversation.

“What time are you going to Kent’s on Saturday?” Judy asked Todd.

“Noon.”

“That early?”

“I told you, baby. I’m helping Kent and his parents set up.”

“I was hoping for more alone time with you after Callie’s brunch.”

“You’ll have me all night at the party.”

“Let’s be daring and go for a midnight swim,” Judy suggested. “Naked.”

“You want to skinny-dip, baby?” Todd made a noise in the back of his throat. Joy heard more kissing, a zipper, then Todd’s groan. “Hold that thought.”

Joy and Taryn stared wide-eyed at each other. Judy and Todd’s conversation had taken a turn down a lane Joy didn’t want to travel, or hear. Todd and Judy skinny-dipping? Gross. She didn’t need that image in her head.

But if she tried to slip past Judy’s room, her sister would see her and know that Joy had been spying.

“Hey.”

Startled, Joy looked up. Todd grinned down at her. He pressed a single finger against his lips. He slowly, quietly, shut and locked Judy’s door.

Joy had completely forgotten that eavesdropped conversation until last night in her hotel room when she’d decided which Route 66 Bucket List item to complete the following day. She’d gone with do something daring.

As she’d done with each activity up to that point, Joy asked herself: What would Judy have done? Skinny-dip. But the risqué act had only earned Joy catcalls from two drunk idiots and a disgusted glare from Dylan. He probably thought she was flirting with him. Maybe she was. Dylan had been on her mind when she’d planned today’s side trip and those thoughts likely influenced her decision.

In the end, Joy had knocked another item off Judy’s list, an accomplishment to be pleased about in its own right. Who knows, maybe her sister would have been daring and skinny-dipped. But Joy felt like a fool.

“Is this okay with you?” Dylan asked of their location, a dark field in the middle of nowhere lit by moonlight.

Joy looked around, taking in what she could see as her eyes adjusted, which wasn’t much beyond her and Dylan, alone in the dark.

“Would you rather sleep indoors? I can find a hotel.”