“I’m sorry,” she said. “I should have—”

He held up a hand to stop her.

“And take a road trip away from me, are you kidding? I’m glad you realized it too late. Plus, we’ll probably get there around the same time you would have, given L.A. traffic and how long it takes to get out of LAX.”

She’d thought of that already, too, but more to justify for herself why her decision was the right one. It still didn’t excuse making Ben drive, but she appreciated him saying so.

“Good point.” She smiled at him.

He crumpled up his cheeseburger wrapper.

“It’s a good weeknight adventure. I’ve been boring for a while. It’s good to break out and do something a little wild again.” He picked up his phone. “Speaking of, I’ve got to text my brother.”

She opened the car door.

“I’ll throw all of this away and fill up my water bottle. And go to the bathroom.” She suddenly had no idea how she’d managed to hold it for this long, and raced inside.

Of course there was a line for the bathroom, but it was miraculously short. When Anna walked out, she turned in the direction of the water dispenser, until the teenagers who came out after her stopped her.

“Um, we were just talking about this and you look just like Anna Gardiner! But then we were like, what would Anna Gardiner be doing here, but maybe you’re filming? Somewhere nearby?”

Oh shit. She’d been so in her own world, she hadn’t remembered to pull her hoodie up over her head to walk into the bathroom. She didn’t want to blow off these girls, but she also did not want to have to be Anna Gardiner right now, and take selfies with them that would absolutely turn up on Instagram or TikTok or somewhere else, and then have to answer questions about why the hell she was at an In-N-Out somewhere in central California late at night on a Thursday. She opened her mouth to say something, she had no idea what.

“Lulu! There you are!” Ben grabbed her hand. “Honey, we have to get back on the road, I’ve been waiting for you!”

She gripped his hand and smiled at the girls.

“I get that all the time, such a compliment! Have a great night. Get home safe.”

They strolled back to the car, hand in hand, as Ben monologued, she assumed for the benefit of whoever might be watching them.

“So I said, are you kidding me? I’ve got to have those hogs by morning! And then he said, hogs! I thought we were talking about cows! Are you sure it’s hogs? And so I said, of course we’re talking about hogs! Why do you think I named my company Pigs R Us?”

By that time, they were back at the car, so Anna could get inside and let her laughter burst out of her.

“Pigs . . . R . . . Us?” she finally said, bent over so far her head was almost on her lap.

“Look, I had to say something!” Ben started the car. “Someone walked by with a Peppa Pig shirt on, and it made me think of pigs, so I just . . . went with it.”

She rolled the window down, now that they were safely out of the parking lot and on their way back to the freeway.

“Also—do I look like a Lulu? Where did that come from?”

“Look, Little Miss Questioning Everything, which one of us got us out of there and into the parking lot without you having to pose for pictures or whatever, and which one of us stood there with a blank smile on her face with no idea what to say? Because I know which one is which!” She could tell he was smiling, even in the dark. “Also. Your pants. Um, that’s why the Lulu.”

She looked down at the yoga pants she’d been in all day. At least if she had to do this road trip in the same outfit she’d been in since seven a.m., thank goodness it was this one and not the form-fitting dress she’d been wearing the day before.

“My pants? What do you . . .” She laughed. “Oh. My pants, I get it. How did you even know my brand of yoga pants?”

He flashed a grin at her.

“I’m in advertising, remember? I know a lot that no one would expect me to know.”

She settled back into her seat, a smile still on her face. And then remembered something.

“Thanks. For the rescue back there, I mean. I wasn’t thinking. I have no idea why I went into the bathroom without my hoodie up or sunglasses on or something.”

That had been a very close one.

“It’s been a long day,” he said. “Even stars struggle with a day like you’ve had. Plus, you’re a delicate flower now, you haven’t been inside a fast-food restaurant in years. You forgot how to do it!”

She laughed and rolled her window back up as they got on the freeway.

“Yeah, I guess I did. And, yeah, it has been a long day.”

Speaking of. She pulled her phone out of her pocket to check, but there was nothing from either her parents or her brother. If she texted Chris and told him she was on her way to Palm Springs, he would . . . actually, she had no idea what he would do. Part of her wanted to do it, just for the amusement factor, but no, it was late and he was probably worried enough as it was—she shouldn’t freak him out.

What would be at the other end of this freeway? She’d been holding that fear at bay ever since she’d gotten into the car with Ben, but she knew it was just hanging out there, somewhere behind her jokes and her attraction to him and the smile that hovered around her face.

Her dad’s heart attack and subsequent surgery a few years ago had been hard enough. But at least then, they’d had a plan for the surgery, she trusted his doctors, and she’d been there the whole time during the surgery, in the waiting room with her mom. But even then, she’d been terrified. Terrified of losing him.

And now . . . he was in an unfamiliar city, with doctors who didn’t know him and who might ignore him or mistreat him because of the color of his skin, in a hospital she didn’t know, and it was an emergency, and she knew if she let the fear show its face, it would choke her. She tried to push it back inside, but she could feel it gaining force.

“Do you want me to drive?” she asked. “I feel bad you’ve been driving this whole time. We should have switched in the parking lot. I’m sorry I didn’t think of it then.”

Ben shrugged.

“Don’t worry about it. You seem exhausted, no offense.” He shook his head. “I shouldn’t have said that—there’s no such thing as ‘no offense’ when you’re telling a woman she looks tired. I just meant you already fell asleep once and when you did, you were out like a light, and that’s not the energy I like to bring to a drive down 5 at ten at night. Plus, I just drank a very large Coke—not diet, real, actual, Coca-Cola—which I got for both the caffeine and the sugar to hype me up to drive, so I can’t waste all of that.”