Sand In My Boots - Morgan Wallen Story

Chapter 3

"So, baby, where do you wanna go?" he asked.

"I don't know, maybe we should call Jared to let him know we left," I answered.

"Is that really what you wanna do?" he asked, turning towards me quickly without his hand leaving my thigh. I didn't want Jared to worry, which I knew he would. But I also wanted to get to know Morgan better, whatever that meant, and I knew Jared would not want me to be alone with him.

"Scratch that, let's go have a drink," I said. He smiled without taking his eyes off the road.

"Alright then girl," he said. "So, where to?"

"I know just the place. Make a left at the light."

    He pulled into the dusty drive-way of this little barn a couple minutes off the main road. The place was poorly lit by a couple of outdated Christmas lights and a flickering neon sign. I opened the door and jumped out of the lifted truck.

"Where did you get this truck anyway?"

"It's mine."

"You drove here? From Tennessee?!"

"Yeah, better than a crowded plane. It gave me time to think."

"Yeah, I bet a 17 hour drive gave you plenty of time to think," I chuckled.

"Maybe I'll have a reason to do the drive more often now," he said, looking into my eyes. My heart skipped a beat. I broke eye contact, looking down at my feet and smiling timidly.

"Yeah, maybe so," I answered, still avoiding his gaze.

"So, where the hell did you bring me," he asked, scratching the back of his neck while he looked at the old neon sign.

"Somewhere no one will know who you are." I winked at him.

"Okay," he chuckled. "I trust that you won't get me killed," he added, grabbing my hand and intertwining our fingers nonchalantly as we walked through the door. The place hadn't changed at all. The same old steel bar stools were still standing around the wooden bar. A couple of black tables and rusty chairs were available around the two occupied pool tables. The place was big, but had lost its notoriety. A total of ten people, mostly older men, were gathered around the two pool tables, smoking and drinking beer.

"Well ain't that a nice surprise," I heard the lady behind the bar say. I couldn't believe Mama Jo was still standing behind that bar.

"Mama Jo!"

"Please tell me you got rid of that piece of dirt, what was his name?"

"Josh, and yeah, he's long gone," I chuckled and caught Morgan smiling from the corner of my eye.

"Good. Now who's the gentleman?" she asked, pointing to Morgan with her chin.

"Oh that's Morgan," I answered.

"Nice to meet you ma'am."

"Oh please, everybody calls me Mama Jo," she said. "Have you been taking good care of my little Aubrey here?"

"Oh, we're not dating," I said. "We kinda just met actually."

"Well, I know that look when I see it in a man's eye, honey, and that guy is not trying to be 'just a friend'," she said, covering the side of her mouth as though that would make him unable to hear what she was saying. I could feel the temperature rising in my cheeks.

"Can we get two whiskeys?" Morgan asked, saving me from the awkward conversation.

"A man that knows what he wants, I like that. Why don't you two lovebirds go sit down and I'll bring it to you," she said, winking at me. We thanked her and I followed Morgan to the hickory booth in the back corner of the room. I sat across from him.