Two Thousand Miles from Me

6. A Confession

Tessa woke up when the truck stopped moving, she pushed herself up and looked around. It was dark outside and they were stopped in front of a hotel, Jase was walking inside. The digital clock in the truck said 9:23, they had covered nearly 800 miles that day— and he'd held her hand for most of it. Tessa glanced down at her left hand, the blue splint and the bruised fingers were ugly and uncomfortable. In fact as she tried to stretch she realized just about everything was uncomfortable, and she had a pounding headache. Tessa had her hands on either side of her head when Jase got back in the car.

"You've been putting off those pain medications all day, you should take one," he suggested, but Tessa just shook her head.

"They make me drunk," she joked and Jase laughed too as he parked the truck.

"That is true. I got us a room, I thought we could get some sleep tonight and we'll be at your mom's for dinner tomorrow night. What do you say?" he asked, grabbing their bags from the back. Tessa didn't really have anything to say, she wasn't ready for their time together to be over yet.

The two of them walked into the hotel together, it felt like all of Tessa's muscles were screaming at her as they made their way into the elevator. She leaned back against the rail and closed her eyes; she felt Jase take her hand again and that made her smile.

"Do you want to take some pain medication yet?" he coaxed as the elevator reached their floor.

"First, I want to eat," she said still rubbing at her temple. She followed Jase to room 614 and waited while he opened the door.

"What about Chinese?" he asked as he swung the door open and they both entered, Tessa didn't answer him as he set both of their bags down on one of the beds.

"Are you...staying in here?" she asked slowly, he grinned at her.

"I'm sorry, you passed out last night, you don't get your own room," he was laughing at her now. She pretended to scowl at him for a minute, then took a seat on the opposite bed. He nudged her shoe with his, and offered again, "Tess, let's get food and then you're taking a painkiller. How's Chinese sound?"

"Chinese sounds good," she answered this time, and he reached out a hand to help her up.

The two of them found a Chinese restaurant that was still open and a waitress seated them at a table for two before taking their orders. Jase started telling her stories about their old friends, the ranch, her horses and the new puppy, Tessa was laughing so hard her ribs hurt.

Their meal came to the table, and the two of them were eating off of one another's plates, laughing and joking. Tessa didn't know what was going on, but it she could almost pretend like nothing had changed, like she'd never left and they were together and things were good. But every once in a while the throbbing at the back of her skull would remind her that this was not the case.

As they finished their meal, Tessa took two of her painkillers with some water, planning to be asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. Being around Jase was getting confusing, adding painkillers in the mix wasn't helping.

Jase suggested they find an ice cream shop before heading back, Tessa wasn't feeling the effects of the pills too strongly yet, so she looped her arm through his and the two of them walked together. Jase was telling her another story about Ace, the dog he hadn't actually given her for her birthday last year. Ace apparently had a talent for climbing, and Jase had found him on top of the fridge one day eating cereal out of the box. Tessa laughed as they entered the ice cream shop, Ace was a little more than Jase had expected. The two ordered cones, and started the trek back to the truck.