Driving With the Top Down by Beth Harbison

Author:Beth Harbison [Harbison, Beth]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction, Contemporary Women
ISBN: 1250043808
Google: dVZGAwAAQBAJ
Amazon: B00HY03FBK
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 2014-08-05T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Colleen

“What is that smell?” Tamara asked as they rolled along the endless miles of I-95 through Georgia. The road was a long black Sharpie line in front of them, flanked by guardrails and, for the past five miles, Jersey walls with low, swampy water extending far to the left and right. Smokestacks billowed in the distance to the east.

Jersey walls made Colleen nervous, so she was glad to have something to say—anything—to try and distract herself. “Paper factories,” she said, gesturing toward the smokestacks. “They smell like sulfur.”

“It’s disgusting.”

“Yeah, well, that’s the smell of Georgia for you.”

“I hate it.”

Colleen wanted to snap at her, and say that she could deal with it or keep bitching, but either way, it was going to still stink. She kept her mouth shut. She knew she was only irritable because she had been able to get ahold of Kevin for just a minute here and there over the past few days.

“Bad time to have the top down,” Tamara went on, her tone dripping with nasty attitude.

Shut up, Colleen thought. Tamara had been really good, really agreeable, for most of the trip, so maybe it was an uncharitable thought, but still, Shut up shut up shut up.

“We should stop at Paula Deen’s restaurant in Savannah,” Bitty said. “What’s it called? The Lady and Sons?”

Colleen glanced sideways at her. How fast could a person put on weight? Bitty had been eating nonstop, and she looked great. She actually looked like a normal person now. Colleen had never seen her resembling anything other than a twig. They’d even stopped at a Target so Bitty could get some new clothes. She’d only gotten yoga pants and a couple of sleeveless exercise shirts, though. Colleen wondered if she was running out of money or determined to lose the weight again.

Seeing Bitty gnawing on peanut brittle they’d bought at the last gas station, it seemed like it was more likely the former. The map of this trip was starting to look like a Candy Land game board.

Not that she’d gained that much weight, of course, but a little really showed on Bitty. Obviously, she needed it—her body was soaking it up. Once, Colleen had gained five pounds from Thanksgiving and the following day of leftovers—mashed potato pancakes fried in butter!—which had stayed on her until she finally stopped thinking she was “bloated” and went on an actual diet to lose them. So how much could Bitty gain in a week? After Colleen’s weight gain, she’d looked it up and seen that, actually, it was frighteningly easy to consume the 3,500 calories required to gain a pound. There was a regular-sized milk shake at the local ice cream store that had more than 2,000 calories alone.

She used to love those things.

Not anymore, though.

“Isn’t there something wrong with Paula Deen? She did something messed up, right?” Tamara asked.

“There is nothing in the world wrong with Paula Deen,” Bitty said. “Except that she doesn’t use as much real butter and cream anymore on her TV show.

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