Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Alice

"Do you think they've got any cow statues?"

Wrecker folded his arms over his chest and looked up at the large giraffe statue. "I'm sure they don't, but god knows you are going to track down whoever it is that orders these fucking statues and see if they have a cow."

We were standing by the entrance of The Kalahari, waiting for Nikki and Pipe. There were large statues of elephants and giraffes by the front, and I couldn't help but admire them.

I squinted and wrinkled my nose. "I mean, I do have real-life highlands, but it would be pretty cool to have a statue of one at the end of the driveway. Oh, we could get two, and they could be Elvis and Priscilla."

Wrecker shook his head. "I'm not even surprised anymore."

"As you shouldn't be," I laughed. "This is all par for the course right now, beardilocks."

Wrecker put his arm around me and pressed a kiss to the top of my head. "How about we stick to live cows and leave the statues at the Kalahari?" he suggested.

"I think that sounds entirely normal, and I won't stand for it." Normal, blegh.

"Again," Wrecker drawled, "not at all surprised."

"Yo, Alice," Nikki called. She was dragging a large bright blue suitcase behind her with Pipe next to her, who was dragging a large cooler behind him. "You cannot fit one of those statues in your car."

Pipe grabbed the suitcase from Nikki and glared at her. "I told you I would get the damn suitcase, woman."

"You were taking too long," Nikki shrugged. "Sometimes it's just easier if I do it myself."

"Because I was getting the damn cooler out of the back. This thing weighs like a hundred and ninety pounds." Pipe nodded to the cooler he was dragging behind him. "What the hell did you pack in here?" he asked.

"Just the necessities," Nikki shrugged. "Things are expensive here. I'm not going to pay five bucks for a bottle of water when I can bring my own."

"This is just water in here?" Pipe asked.

Nikki squinted up at Pipe. "Why are you questioning me? Arlo helped me pack the darn thing. You think he would help me pack junk? We have only the necessities in there."

Pipe leveled his glare on Nikki. "Well, the kid belongs to you, so yeah, I would say he would do anything to humor his mom to make her happy."

"He belongs to you, too," she grunted back. "I saw that firsthand when he refused to pack the air fryer."

Pipe dropped the handle of the cooler, and it clattered to the ground. "You wanted to bring the damn air fryer? We're only here for four fucking days, Nikki! And I don't know about you, but one of the perks about being away from home is eating out."

"What if I want a snack in the middle of the night?" Nikki countered. "You really think I'm going to want to haul my cookies out of bed to track down some dry-ass sandwich from a vending machine?"

Pipe held up his hands and shook his head. "I'm too damn old for this shit." He grabbed the handle of the cooler and headed to the front entrance.

I squinted at Nikki. "You didn't bring the air fryer?" I whispered.

Nikki shook her head. "Arlo wouldn't let me."

I pushed my sunglasses on top of my head and smiled. "Don't worry, I put mine in my suitcase."

"What?" Wrecker demanded. "Is that why this thing is so heavy?"

I wrinkled my nose and shrugged. "You're strong. You can handle it."

"Woman, what the hell were you going to do if we decided to fly here?" Wrecker demanded.

I scoffed and pulled my sunglasses over my eyes. "As if you would get on an airplane. Let's get checked in." Wrecker getting on an airplane was hilarious. The man drove everywhere, even if it was twenty hours away. Our trek to Texas a few months back had been long. That was one trip I was not looking forward to making again.

"Yeah," Nikki called. "The welcome dinner is in an hour, and I need to unpack."

Wrecker shook his head and looked down at my suitcase. "I should have known you were going to pull some crazy shit."

I grabbed his arm and pushed him toward the entrance. "Again, I don't believe you should be surprised by anything I do, Wrecker. We've been together longer than I care to count."

"Years," he grunted. "Lots of years."

Nikki fell into step beside me. "We tried to follow you guys on the highway, but I swear to god, the older Pipe gets, the slower he drives."

"I think the opposite goes for Wrecker," I laughed. "I swear it took minutes to get here instead of a couple of hours."

"That's because you slept most of the way," Wrecker grunted.

I rolled my eyes. "I think you're going to be attending all of these car meetings by yourself this weekend, and Nikki and I are going to camp out at the pool area."

The doors whooshed open, and we stepped into the sprawling lobby. There were more large statues of African animals around the lobby and a pretty long line to check-in. Thankfully, Pipe had gotten in before us and was halfway up the line.

"Are all of these people here for the body shop convention?" I asked.

"Probably not, babe. This place is freaking huge, and I'm sure there are families on vacation that are mixed in with the convention." Wrecker got in the back of the line.

"Uh, why don't we go up by Pipe?" Nikki suggested.

Wrecker shook his head. "Because I'm not looking to start any fights, doll."

Nikki shrugged. "Well, suit yourself. I'll ask them to put you guys by us when we check in." She squeezed up the line until she was next to Pipe.

"You see all of those dirty looks she got?" Wrecker laughed. "It's a damn good thing Pipe didn't see them."

"I don't know about that. I think he's still irked about the two-hundred-pound cooler," I laughed.

Wrecker shook his head. "Hardly. You and I both know Pipe would kill for Nikki."

I reached up on my tiptoes and pressed a kiss to Wrecker's cheek. "Just like you would for me, even when I bring home more chickens, goats, or kittens."

Wrecker grunted but wrapped his arm around my waist. "Yeah, even after all of the animals that seem just to follow you home, you're mine."

"I love you, Wrecker." And man, did I love him. I never would have thought that, when I drunkenly curtsied to Wrecker, I would end up over twenty years later happily married with a farm full of animals and three kids with the love of my life.

"Love you, too, babe."

I closed my eyes and sighed. "Do you love me enough to butt your way to the front of this line so we can get into our room?" I whispered.

Wrecker chuckled and shook his head. "You're just gonna have to deal with waiting, babe. I'm not in the mood for a fight today."

"Softy," I smiled. "Maybe tomorrow?"

"You're crazy, Alice."

My smile spread wide, and I leaned into him. Man, I loved my life.