Free Finding Home by Megan Nugen Isbell Page B

manually into the door.  I needed to grease it, but I hadn’t gotten around to it yet.  It finally turned though and I opened the door, anxious to get home and wash away the smell of the diner.
    “Miranda!” I’d recognize that voice anywhere.  I turned to see Brandon walking towards me, looking smug with confidence sparkling in his blue eyes, so different than he’d been at my house the day before when I’d seen the weak, scared side of him. 
    “Brandon,” I said and I knew I was smiling at him.
    “I swung by your house and your sister told me you were working till seven.”
    “I just finished,” I said and he was standing next to me a moment later, leaning against the hood of my car, or P.O.S., as he liked to refer to it. 
    “Wanna go for a ride in my new truck?” The grin on his face was wide and excited and I felt myself grabbing onto his arm.
    “You got a new truck?” I exclaimed.
    “I did.”
    “When?  You haven’t mentioned anything about getting a car.”
    “Today.  Dad and I drove up to Wichita and now you’re looking at the new owner of that fine lookin’ pick-up truck over there.” He was pointing to a full sized, white Dodge truck, parked on the other side of the parking lot.
    “Nice,” I said, closing the door on my P.O.S. and walking towards his truck.  I ran my hand over the sleek white paint and I had to admit, it was nice.  Way nicer than my hunk of junk.  I stopped, leaned against the door and smiled over to Brandon, reaching over and resting my hand on his arm. “You deserve this.  I’m happy for you.”
    “Thanks,” he said and he looked a little bashful, again seeming like he didn’t want to talk about himself. “I was beginning to realize how lame it is to be twenty-one and still asking my parents to borrow their car.  Now I’ve just gotta find a job so I don’t drain all my disability paying for it.”  He started laughing and as he brushed by me to get to the door, I caught that scent of him I noticed yesterday.  I tried not to focus on it, but it was hard because he smelled so good. “I wanted you to be the first to go country crusin’ in it with me.”
    “You don’t want me in your truck right now.  I’ll ruin the new car smell with the lovely aroma of the diner that has attached itself to my body.”
    He started laughing, but he took my hand and I looked down at it for a second before looking back up at him.
    “I don’t care what you smell like, Mandy.  I just wanna go for a ride in my new truck with you.”
    The way he was smiling at me, reassuring and kind, I knew he didn’t care that I’d spent my day amongst grease and coffee.  I felt like a vat of butter though and maybe before yesterday I wouldn’t have cared, but I did now.
    “Can I just go home and grab a quick shower?  It’ll be like ten minutes, then we can drive wherever you want,” I said and he rolled his eyes a little, obviously frustrated, but then he shrugged his shoulders and looked at me a with a cute, half-sided grin. 
    “Ten minutes max.”
    “Promise.  Just follow me to my house.  Meet you there.  Okay?”
    “Alrighty,” he said, opening the door to his new truck and I jogged to my car, quickly getting inside and making my way to my house. 
    I knew I shouldn’t have insisted on the shower.  I knew I should’ve just hopped into the cab of the truck while Brandon took us wherever he wanted to go, but I always took a shower after my shift.  I would’ve been self-conscious otherwise. 
    I pulled in my driveway and Brandon stopped his car along the sidewalk in front of my house.  I could see the lights on inside and I knew everyone was home.  I waited for Brandon to make his way up to the porch and then together, we walked inside. 
    My parents were finishing up the dinner dishes and I could hear violin music coming from upstairs.  Shay was in the middle of one of her after dinner practices.  The piece was something slow and mournful and I was always