Benny by Terry Bolryder

Author:Terry Bolryder [Bolryder, Terry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-05-01T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

“So where are we headed?” Harley asked, sitting in the passenger seat of Benny’s truck as he drove them to someplace unknown.

All she knew was that he’d approached her in the middle of their shift at Club Crimson and asked if she wanted to “go somewhere quiet” with him.

Of course she said yes.

“Like I said, it’s a secret,” he replied, a hint of a smile curving his lips. As good as he had been at hiding his pain, hiding his past from her, he’d always been a terrible liar when he was excited.

Harley hadn’t been this far outside the city in a long time. Probably since her childhood, in fact. A while back, they’d passed the sleepy suburbs and dimly lit outskirts, leading them out into a never-ending sea of pine forest that stretched on limitlessly before them, illuminated only by the headlights of Benny’s truck.

Far above, the moon cast the wall of trees and surrounding hills in a beautiful, eerie blue glow.

It was hard not to be reminded of dozens, maybe hundreds, of drives she and Benny had taken like this together. Whenever they were happy, whenever they were sad or times were hard—especially when times were hard—they would hop in Benny’s truck and drive aimlessly through the woods surrounding her childhood home. Then they’d find a spot to park and just sit and watch the stars while they talked.

It had always been one of their great shared loves, the outdoors. A sense of adventure and newness and being one with nature that she’d always had since her childhood and that Benny had only further encouraged and brought out in her.

The truck swayed as it hit a bump, and Benny slowed, the sound of gravel and dirt beneath the tires signaling they were now officially off the beaten path. On the left and right, thick trunks and low-hanging branches embraced them in a blanket of darkness. They drove for a few minutes more, when suddenly the canopy opened outward, displaying a glittering night sky on full display above them.

When Benny stopped the truck and put it in park, it took Harley’s eyes a second to adjust. But when she did, she realized they were in the center of a small meadow, surrounded by trees. She rolled down the window, and cool night air drifted in, carrying on it a million scents she could barely decipher as a human, scintillated and enlivened nonetheless.

If nostalgia could be bottled up and served to her as an adult, this would be it. There had been no end to the forests that encircled the town where she’d grown up. And Benny, who apparently had lived in the adjacent county before coming to live with her, had enjoyed plenty of exposure to nature as well.

“Well, here we are,” Benny exclaimed, slapping one hand on his thigh.

“And where are we?” she asked, curious.

“Nowhere.” His grin as his eyes met hers was infectious, and she felt her entire body warm from head to toe. “But that’s not all.

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