Meet Me at the Tailgate

Verse

Last box packed in the truck bed tight

Porch light humming a tired goodnight

Your jacket's still on the tailgate rail

Two sodas sweating, both gone stale

You trace the dust on my back windshield

Write "see you soon" so the words won't heal

Cicadas singing that same slow tune

Like they already know I'm leaving too soon

Pre-Chorus

So what do we do with a sky full of maybes

And a gravel road that just fades and fades

Do we hold on tighter or let it go

Say the word and I'll stay, I don't know

Chorus

Meet me at the tailgate, under the one streetlight

Where the crickets keep on playing like they know we'll be alright

Bring the radio and both our beat-up hearts

Cause an ending's just a doorway to a brand new start

Meet me at the tailgate, I'll be counting down the miles

Every mile's a promise wrapped in bittersweet smiles

Verse

Three months gone, city rain on my sleeve

Your voice on the phone says don't you believe

That distance is just a river we cross

Not a wall, not a door, not a permanent loss

I kept your jacket folded in my seat

Smells like summer, smells like the street

Where we stood counting stars, running out of time

Now I'm counting exits, counting the sign

Pre-Chorus

So what do we do with a sky full of maybes

And a highway that stretches past all my fears

Do I keep on driving or turn around

Cause your name's the only sound

Chorus

Meet me at the tailgate, under the one streetlight

Where the crickets keep on playing like they know we'll be alright

Bring the radio and both our beat-up hearts

Cause an ending's just a doorway to a brand new start

Meet me at the tailgate, I'll be counting down the miles

Every mile's a promise wrapped in bittersweet smiles

Bridge

Maybe home's not a house or a street

It's the space where two headlights meet

Maybe leaving don't mean that we're through

Just means I'm driving straight back to you

Chorus

Meet me at the tailgate, under the one streetlight

Where the crickets are still playing cause we made it through the night

Bring the radio, we healed our beat-up hearts

That ending was a doorway, and look how far we've come, we're not apart

Meet me at the tailgate, I drove through all those miles

Every mile was a promise, now I'm home, now I'm smiling

Outro

Meet me at the tailgate

I'm already home