Chapters (44)
- TITLE PAGE
- COPYRIGHT PAGE
- DEDICATION
- CONTENTS
- START READING
- CHAPTER 1
- CHAPTER 2
- CHAPTER 3
- CHAPTER 4
- CHAPTER 5
- CHAPTER 6
- CHAPTER 7
- CHAPTER 8
- CHAPTER 9
- CHAPTER 10
- CHAPTER 11
- CHAPTER 12
- CHAPTER 13
- CHAPTER 14
- CHAPTER 15
- CHAPTER 16
- CHAPTER 17
- CHAPTER 18
- CHAPTER 19
- CHAPTER 20
- CHAPTER 21
- CHAPTER 22
- CHAPTER 23
- CHAPTER 24
- CHAPTER 25
- CHAPTER 26
- CHAPTER 27
- CHAPTER 28
- CHAPTER 29
- CHAPTER 30
- CHAPTER 31
- CHAPTER 32
- CHAPTER 33
- EPILOGUE
- JOYRIDE
- COMING SUMMER 2021
- AUTHOR NOTE
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dylan leaned forward. “You seemed bored out of your gourd today. A grumpy grandpa at a rock concert shows more enthusiasm than you did out there.”
Joy’s face fell. She looked away and Dylan silently cursed. Dick. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. It’s just . . . I don’t know.” He shrugged and leaned back in the chair. It wasn’t his place to judge.
“No, you’re right,” she said, looking back at him. Her eyes glistened, and Dylan felt rotten. He’d put those tears there.
“This was the something Judy had always wanted to do.” She ducked her chin and picked at her half-finished burger. “I never had any interest.”
Dylan gave her a moment before he asked. “If you wrote a bucket list, what is something you’ve always wanted to do?” He genuinely wanted to know.
Joy rested her chin in her hand. “When I was younger, my friend Taryn and I hung out at the skate park a lot. We did all the tricks the boys did, if not better. Kickflips, heelflips, pop-shove its, you name it.”
Dylan grinned. “I have no idea what you just said.”
Joy smiled. “My favorite was when I’d push my board straight up a wall and catch air. There’s this split second of weightlessness and I’d hover above the ramp before I dropped hard. My heart would be in my throat and my stomach in my chest, and I’d wonder: Can I land this? It’s that spot, right there beyond the boundary of chaos and control that I craved. Same with Taryn. It drove us to the park every free afternoon.”
She stopped talking, her gaze far off, her mind remembering, and Dylan just stared, absorbing this new-to-him side of Joy. A side he suspected she kept under wraps.
“You never answered my question,” he said. “What is something you’ve always wanted to do?”
“Skydive.”
Really?
He grinned. “You’re a risk-taker, Joy. Who knew?”
Her eyes glittered. “Have you done it?”
“No, but I want to. The rush would be incredible.”
“Better than skateboarding. Someday, maybe.”
“What if today is someday?”
“Impossible. We don’t have time. I don’t have the money either.”
Dylan’s gaze tracked down her list, landing on do something dangerous. He remembered the last time he and Chase were in this area touring with their dads and the guy they’d met at a bar. He pulled out the road map he’d been forced to use on this trip. Damn, he missed Google Maps.
“Is that a real map?”
“Rare as they may be, they do still exist.” He grinned and unfolded the map.
“You can borrow my phone.”