Chapter Text
CHAPTER 1
Rubbing a tired hand down his face, Raymond rolled the window down on his door. The nineteen eighty-six Peterbilt he drove was old, but she ran like a top. Letting the cool spring night air wipe over his face, he was a little over halfway through with his drive from Salt Lake City, Utah to Chicago, Illinois.
The route he was on he knew like the back of his hand, having been on the route for several months now, he knew he was getting close to his normal stopping place.
Needing to stop for his required ten-hour break, Raymond pulled into Bucky and Buck’s truck stop just outside of Grand Rapids Nebraska.
He was looking forward to a hot shower and good meal, but more than all that he was looking forward to seeing Lizzy.
Elizabeth or “Lizzy” that he had affectionately started caller her, was a young brown-haired woman with blue eyes that remember him of the deepest part of the sea.
The first time he’d seen the woman from across the dining area, he’d promptly picked up his stuff and moved to a table that was in her area. And over the last couple months, with Raymond stopping there a couple different times a week, the pair had struck up a friendship.
The connection between them had been almost instant, the first time the woman had smiled at him and nervously pushed her hair back behind her ears, Red knew he was in trouble.
But despite how attracted he was to the young woman, he pushed the feelings down as deep as he could, she was young, beautiful, and full of life and he was not.
Being just shy of forty-two, Raymond had spent a good chuck of his adult life driving over the road, the lifestyle wasn’t ideal, but the money was good, he’s truck was paid for, and he’d been able to buy him a nice place in Casper, Wyoming.
He’d long giving up on trying to find someone to share is life with, he’d tried a few different time’s but all his relationships at all ened the same, him being cheated on or dumped.
His visits with Lizzy though out the week helped with the loneliness he felt, but after a day or two of not seeing the woman, Raymond would dwell on the things missing in his life, how he wished he’d have the courage to ask Liz out just once, or at the very least to share a meal with him.
And every time he would tell himself “next time…next time I will ask her” the next time would come, and Red wouldn’t ask, they would share some laugh’s, Liz would flash him with a smile and a wink, and on a few occasions now, she would send him off with some desserts and a hug.
Somewhere along the way of him showing up to when it was time for him to leave, Raymond would always convince himself that a young woman like that would never want to go out with a old man like him, and the fear getting turned down by Liz was just too much for him to want to deal with.
After making a couple circles around the parking lot, Raymond found a spot to back his truck into at the far in of the parking lot.
He looks down at the wrinkled day-old shirt he had on. Frowning, he shook his head and quickly pulled it off and tosses it in his dirty laundry bag. Slipping on a clean t-shirt, he grabbed his shower bag, clean jeans, socks, and boxers.
Raymond climbed out of his truck, with his knees aching he drug his cowboy boots across the pavement, giving his joints a moment to loosen up.
He felt his heart start to beat a little faster when he walked into the building, stopping at the doorway he glanced over to his left to where the dinner area was. A large smile broke over his face when he saw Liz as the far end of the building.
Lizzy was talking to another driver taking his order when she happened to look up and saw Raymond standing by the main door.
Smiling and giving the man a wink, Liz gave him a small wave with her fingers still trying to pay attention to what the man sitting in front of her was ordering.
The rapid beat of Raymond’s heart only sped up as he watched her for a moment, letting out a long breath of longing, he pushed his feeling back down once again and headed for the shower, knowing by the time he was out Lizzy would have a cup of coffee ready for him and his usual order put into the kitchen.
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Raymond leaned into the sink counter; the shower room still filled with steam. The hot water had helped ease his tired muscles, but it had don’t nothing to calm the flutters inside his chest. He ran his fingertips through the several days’ worth of growth on his face, what ever little bit on confidence that he might ask Liz to join him with dinner this time, slipped away with each pass of his hand over the salt and pepper hair on his face.
Even for his age, he still considered himself in good shape, he worked hard to keep his body fairly toned and through the flat stomach he once had was now slightly rounded, he was far from having a large gut.
He kept his hair shaved short, being on the road as much as he was left little time to worry about needed to get haircuts, so he pulled his clippers out of his bag and gave his head a once over, his once dark colored hair was now thinning and shifted to a silver color, with only a hit of the color it once was.
Raymond paused before he ran the clippers over his face, not wanting to have to mess with shaving once he was done, he let out a long breath as he put the clippers away and looked at himself in the mirror again.
“Your too old for her…” he mumbled to himself. Harshly digging around in his bag for his toothbrush. He finished up, slipping on his clean cloths and splashed a little cologne on before packing everything back into his bag and headed over to the dinner.
For a split-second Raymond had almost thought about just going back to his truck, scolding himself inwardly for why he was tormenting himself by even going to spend time with the woman, but before he could make his feet move towards the door, Liz’s soft voice broke him from his thought.
“Red!” excited to see her friend, Liz quickly ran over to him and wrapped light arms around his neck, hugging him lightly to her.
Raymond’s heart kicked back into overdrive when he felt the woman’s chest pushed gently into his, not waiting to hurt Liz’s feelings, he wrapped his free hand around her shoulders and gave her a quick hug back.
“It’s good to see you, Lizzy.” Smiling as he pulled back from her.
“I figured I’d see you today or tomorrow…” Liz smiled, taking her arms away from him, instantly Red wished he could feel her warmth again. “Come on, I have your coffee waiting and I put your order in.”
Red’s face softened, still unsure how he was lucky enough to have a woman who was really, still a stranger to him be so kind to an old man like him. Forcing a smile to his face, he held out his arm for Liz to take, “Your too kind to this old man, honey.”
Elizabeth wrapped her around the bend in Red’s elbow, cocking a brow at him, “We’ll that’s because you one of the sweetest men I have ever met…” she lightly bumped her shoulder into Red’s, “and you’re not old.”
Hearing the woman make sure to mention the fact that she didn’t find him old, the confidence the man had lost in the shower slowly grew again as he walked with Liz on his arm to the table, she had saved for him.
Liz pulled her hand away from Red’s arm, her finger’s lingered across his bare skin for longer than she had meant for them to, blushing when she saw Red glance down at her hand still resting on his arm, Liz smiled sheepishly and tucking her hair behind her ears, pointing at the kitchen. “I’m…just going to go check on your food.”
Feeling a pull at his heart when he saw the worry in Liz’s face that maybe she had just embarrassed herself, Red’s hand shot out and lightly grabbed her elbow before she could walk off, “Lizzy…” he spoke softly, his thumb brushing over her skin.
Looking back at Red with some timidness, Liz tried to put a light smile on her face, a warmth building in her from the soft way Red was touching her arm, “Have you had your lunch break yet?” surprising even himself that he was within moments of asking the woman to have dinner with him, Red’ bit at the inside of his cheek.
Elizabeth’s brows raised, the corner of her mouth pulling into the smallest sign of a smile, “No, I haven’t.” she spoke, taking a half step closer to Red.
Red’s breath caught in his chest, come on you, just spit it out. Red inwardly yelled at himself, “W-would you like to h-have dinner with me?” stumbling over a few of his words and spitting them out like he was a teenager boy again, Red dared to meet Liz’s eyes.
Part of him had been waiting for the woman to start laughing hysterically at him, but when he looked up and seen the smile on her face and the sparkle in her eye, his heart did a small flip, “I think I would like that very much, Let me get your food and have the cook make me up something real fast.”
Seeing the smile on Lizzy’s face grow, Red let her hand fall from her elbow. Smiling back with a soft raise of his brows, he stood there frozen in his steps as Liz walked back to the kitchen.
Move your ass, old man. Snaping himself out of the trance of disbelief he was in, Red shook his head and tossed his bag into the corner of the booth seat, turning away so that Liz would see him straightening his shirt and clearing the sweat on his palms on the top of his legs.
His heart was racing, and his hands were starting to shake when Liz started back to the table with two plates in her hands, he waited till she was close enough and took the plates from her. quickly setting them down, he turned back to Liz and held his hand out for her to sit down first.
Liking the soft way his hand touched her lower back as she moved past him and sat down, Liz felt the blush of redness wash over her face.
He waits till Liz is settled and the joins her, sitting across from her they share a nervosa smile. “What did you get to eat?” Red asked, keeping the conversation easy until he can find his footing again.
Grabbing her fork, stabs it into her salad and holds up a piled-up mess of lettuce, a tomato, and some ham. “A chief salad.” Happily taking the bite of food she was holding up to show the man.
Red chuckles lightly at how she seems to be enjoying her food, chewing up what in her mouth Liz points at Red’s plate with his fork, “I’ve been taking your order for a couple months now, do you ever get anything different?” she teased.
Pausing as he cut up his stake, Red looked down at his food and back at Liz, playfully narrowing his eyes at her, “Hey, cut me some slack…I’m stuck in my ways…and I enjoy the stake here.” He teased back. “besides…” Red pointed at Liz’s salad, “If I tried to eat that rabbit food…I would be hungry before I got an hour down the road.”
Raising a brow, Liz stuck her fork into a huge chuck of ham, “It’s not rabbit food…” she mocked him, holding out the meat for him to see, a light snicker starting to build in her chest when she saw the way Red was rolling his eyes.
It didn’t take the pair long to fall into a comfortable conversation, “How long have you been driving?” Liz asked Red.
Having to really think on that one for a moment, Red silently added up the years in his head, “Somewhere around twenty years, I think I was twenty-two or so when I started driving.”
Liz nodded using the small bit of information to figure out how old Red was, “So you’re forty-two?” she asked lightly, hoping Red wouldn’t think anything of the question.
Red smiled halfheartedly, “Um, yeah.” He looked down at his food, “How old are you Lizzy?” he really wasn’t sure why he asked that, possibly because it just felt like the natural thing to do when you’re trying to get to know someone.
“I’m twenty-four.” Liz said, unfazed with sharing her age with him.
Inwardly Red was cringing, by all right’s he was old enough to be her father and here he was crushing on the woman. As interested in the woman as he was, he just couldn’t get past the feeling that there was no way Liz would want anything do with some twice her age.
And all the kindness she had showed him was just her way of being a friend and the few times that he had thoughts he might be flirting with him was just in lonely imagination hoping for something.
Wanting to move into a topic that made him feel less shitting about himself, Red regaled Liz with a few crazy stories of things that had happened to him over his years on the road.
By the time they had finished their meal they were both laughing at the story Red was finished, Liz couldn’t remember the last time she had laughed so hard that she needed to wipe tears from her eyes.
Red took in a deep breath trying to calm his own laughter, his eyes softened and locked on to Liz as she finished clearing her face and tucking her hair behind her hears.
He though how amazing she looked, her face still flushed from laughter, her eyes still glazed over from the tears of laughter he’s caused her to have, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d made a woman laugh the way Liz had and it made him feel good.
Glancing at his watch, Red frowned. They had been talking for almost an hour, not wanting to get Liz into trouble and really needed to get some sleep before he had to leave, Red smiled warmly at Liz and glanced at his watch again.
Seeing that Red had checked the time, Liz took glanced at her watch. “Do you have to leave?” She asked.
For a moment, Red thought maybe he heard some sadness in the woman’s voice, but he quickly pushed it off to his imagination again, “Not yet, but I do need to go get some sleep before I can leave.”
Elizabeth was quiet, her eyes roamed the man’s face and how he was nervously rubbing his hands together. “Well, you better go get some rest then, I don’t want you driving tired.”
Red’s head pulled up from the lowered position he held it in, looking at Liz with some shock on his face that she would be worried about him. “Are you worried about me, Lizzy?” the question leaving his mouth before he’s brain had time to stop it.
Liz just smiled as she stood, Red quickly got to his feet seeing that she was getting up. by the time they both stood from the booth and looked up they found themselves extremely close to each other.
Close enough in fact the Red could feel the heat from their body’s starting to mingle, “Is it okay that I worry about you?” Liz asked softly.
Red’s hand shot up to stretch at the back of his neck, “I’m no one special, Lizzy. No since in you fretting.”
Liz gave her head a tilt, looking at the man in almost sadness that he didn’t feel he was worth enough to have someone worry for him, her anger at whoever had made such a sweet man feel so bad about himself made her want to find the bitch and kick her squarely in the face. Liz pulling in a deep breath and timidly laid a hand on Red’s chest.
The breath in his chest caught when he felt her hand lightly touching him, unable to move or breath, Red stood their frozen.
“I…. for one, would like to see you again, so please be careful.” She patted him lightly on the center of his chest. “I’ll see you in a couple days?” she asked softly.
Red gave his head a shaky nod, he finally looked down at her hand. Wrapping his hand around hers, Red dipped his head and dropped a feather light kiss to the top of it.
Elizabeth’s heart drop to her stomach when she felt the man’s soft lip’s brush over her hand, her mind reeled at the feeling of having someone show her such a tender gesture.
“I’ll be back through on Friday.”
With his assurance that he would see her again, Liz smiled at him “See you then.” Liz took a couple steps backwards, letting her hand fall down his chest with each step. Finally forcing herself to turn away from him, she hurried off to the kitchen, so she didn’t have to watch him leave.