A Time to Move On by Karolyn James

him.
    Mack turned on his heel and went
around the front of the building and walked inside. Timmy Jr. ran the place now.
He was about twenty years older than Mack. Mack jokingly cleared his throat to
get Timmy Jr.'s attention, and when he turned around, he smiled wide.
    "Do you hear that? That's one
of your songs on the radio, man! How the hell have you been?"
    Mack laughed and they shook hands.
    “My kids can’t get enough,” Little
Timmy said. “Hell, they dress my grandkids in shirts with you on it."
    "Things have been going well.
The place looks great, your father would be proud."
    "Thanks. I miss that old man
every day. I still have that old TV in the back," Timmy Jr. said, pointing
to the back room.
    Mack ordered two sandwiches, two
bags of chips, and two sodas, and put down twice what the bill cost.
    "Hey, thanks. Take care of
yourself, Mack. Tell the rest of the guys I said hey.”
    "Will do,” Mack said.
    He grabbed his order and carried it
to Laura’s car.
    “We’re eating?” Laura asked.
    “Are you hungry?”
    “Yeah. I am.”
    “Then, yes, we are eating.”
    Laura's lips tightened.
    Mack gritted his teeth and sucked
in a breath. Sometimes he didn’t mean to come across like an ass. It was just
his natural defense.
    Laura took the food and put it on
the seat next to her.
    “Just keep following me. I know a little
spot. It's where I go to disappear sometimes.”
    “You want to disappear?” Laura
asked.
    Mack didn’t answer the question. Instead,
he walked to his motorcycle and got back on it. When he started the ride, he
found that his heart was pounding in his chest. He was supposed to be meeting
the guys soon in the studio to finalize touring details with Frank. Mack took a
few back roads and stopped at a small clearing.
    Laura parked and got out of her
car. She carried the food to one of the two benches that seemed out of place
and random.
    “I’ve never been around here,”
Laura said.
    “Like I said, it’s a secret.”
    “How do you know about it?”
    “I just know,” Mack said.
    Laura didn’t seem to accept his
answer, but she sat anyway and handed Mack one of the sandwiches. He sat on the
other end of the bench. She kept the barbecue chips for herself and handed Mack
the plain ones.
    Kelly liked plain…
    Mack took the chips and put them
next to him. Was he really still buying food based on what she used to like?
    “What’s wrong?” Laura asked.
    “Nothing,” Mack said. He eyed the
chips and nodded. “You like barbecue?”
    “Like there’s any better choice?”
    Mack surprised himself when he
smiled. He shook his head. He couldn’t remember the last time a stranger was so
calm and cool around him. He couldn't get a read on Laura yet, because Mack
knew there were parts that were true and parts that were simply bullshit.
    “Good point,” Mack said. “How about
sharing those with me?”
    “Come get them,” Laura said.
    She took a bite of her sandwich.
Mack scooted down toward her, and then all that separated them was a bag of
chips. Mack was close enough that he could smell Laura’s hair. Not that he was
trying. He was close enough that he could also see a small white dot of mayo on
the corner of her mouth.
    “This is really good,” Laura said.
“I mean, it’s turkey and cheese, but it’s really good for some reason.”
    “It's the fresh bread,” Mack said.
“It's definitely not what it used to be, but still better than cheap stuff.”
    Laura looked at Mack. She opened
her mouth to say something else and before Mack knew what he was doing, he had
his thumb to her upper lip. He slowly brought it down and wiped the mayo from
the corner of her mouth.
    “Sorry,” he said. “You had some…
whatever.”
    Mack took a big bite of his
sandwich and stared straight ahead. His heart was unsure why he was there, but
he was doing nothing about it.
    “So tell me something, anything,”
Laura said. “I mean, I had no idea you were famous.”
    “That’s okay,” Mack said.