Free Eruption (Yellowblown™ Book 1) by J. Hughey Page B

year.”
    I grinned, liking the nickname and the challenge.
    W e pushed off again. “Hey, we’re gonna ride by that park near campus, right? Do you want to cool down there for a while?” he called.
    “Ok ay,” I said, purposely forgetting about the chapters waiting to be read and the paper to be written.
    We found a patch of sunlight in the otherwise shady park.
    I hadn’t considered the need to take off my bike helmet in my acceptance of this stop. I did what he did. I tugged it off and forced my fingers through my hair, pulling out my hairband and ponytail in the process.
    We both stretched for a few minutes, then Boone jogged across the street to a coffee shop to get us each a soda, and he bought a huge chocolate chip cookie and a newspaper , too. He flopped down in the grass, facing me as we split the cookie. I rotated to sit shoulder to shoulder when he opened the paper. The sun warmed my back and everything felt perfectly right with the world.
    U ntil I read the scary headlines.
    “Have you heard from your parents?” I asked.
    He pointed to a paragraph about cell service. “I couldn’t get through yesterday , but Mom called me, late. They’re worried about Drew. I spent most of last night surfing the Internet, trying to find people to contact to let him know what’s going on when he comes out of the wilderness.”
    “He should be safe up there, though,” I said.
    “Yeah, but he practically runs our ranch now. Dad knows what to do, but it’s a lot for him. He won’t admit it, but he gets tired easily. We’d all feel better if Drew helped call the shots. I offered to go home. They both said no.”
    “Is there ash there yet?”
    “Mom says yes. Dad said it’s the usual Nebraska grit.”
    “Who do you believe?”
    “Mom. She’s the realist in the family, bordering on pessimist.”
    I leaned against him, loving the solidity of his shoulder , even if we were both damp and probably smelly. Our two bikes lay on the grass, side by side, and the couplehood gave me the same pathetic pleasure his drink from my water bottle had on Friday.
    He bumped his elbow against my arm. “Sorry I didn’t text you or anything yesterday. I got caught up in Alaska emergency services.”
    “No biggie. Who all did you try?”
    “Red Cross, the governor’s office, and Emergency Management in the part of Alaska he’s in. Did you know Alaska doesn’t have counties, they have boroughs? It took me a half hour to figure out what I was looking for. Mom contacted his airline, too, though they have no reason to know anything about him for another week. He’d changed his itinerary going out to have a day’s layover in San Fran, which she’d known nothing about.”
    I pointed to the headline about all the flight cancellations and the graphic with a big red circle showing the no-fly area that definitely included all of Nebraska. “ How will he get home?”
    “I dunno. He might fly here , and I’ll drive him.”
    “ That would suck,” I blurted, thinking only of myself. “I mean, it’s a lot of driving for you.”
    “Would you miss me?” he teased.
    “Maybe.” My coy smile gave away the truth. I unscrewed the lid to my soda bottle to take a drink. “I was surprised they had the game yesterday. I’ll bet you got wet.”
    “ Not like the players.” He braced his arm behind me and set his chin on my shoulder. “It would’ve been more fun if you’d been there.”
    “Oh, yeah, Cramer would have loved that.”
    I knew what he wanted, though, and I wanted it too, so I angled my face toward his.
    The perfect kiss, with the grass and sun and sweetness of chocolate chip cookie on our lips, made me smile against his mouth.
    “Why do you always smile whe n we kiss?” he whispered, his breath warm on my cheek.
    Truth or dare. How much to admit? How much to hide? I’d decided, after the Parker disaster, I only wanted honest relationships, so I had to tell the truth, though the Nikki debacle tempered the truth rule to