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

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.”