Page 52 of This Time Around
“Do you really know all their names now?”
“Not all of them, but she’s got those eyes the color of maple syrup.”
“Ah, I see that now.” Jack reached under the bed and tried to grab the cat. She scooted back and gave another meow, this time dropping the paper.
“Got it!” He snatched the page, sending the cat skittering backward toward the headboard. She gave a halfhearted hiss, then sat back and began to clean her ears with one of her catcher’s-mitt paws.
Jack stood up, ready to walk around the bed and help Allie to her feet again, but he saw she was already standing. They were separated by the width of a queen-sized mattress, and there was something strangely intimate about it. Like they were a pair of lovers on the brink of crawling into bed together instead of two exes on their way to a college reunion.
They stared at each other across the mattress, both of them still a little breathless from the chase around the house. Allie looked at him, her palm trailing absently over the blue coverlet.
She was the first to speak. “Sorry about that. Thank you for the help.”
“No problem. Your hair?—”
“Oh, God—did I mess it up? Skye’s going to kill me.” She put her hand up to touch it, and Jack shook his head.
“No, that’s not it. I just meant it’s beautiful. I didn’t notice before, but I’ve never seen you wear it like that before.”
“Oh. Thanks.” A flush crept into her cheeks, and her palm drifted over one of the pillows. Was she thinking the same thing he was? Remembering a different bed, a different reason for the heavy breathing and mussed hair? The way they used to?—
“Can I have it?”
“What?”
Allie stretched her hand out and gave him an expectant look. “My page. The paper the cat stole.”
“Oh. Yes, of course.” He started to hand it to her, then glanced down at the words.
ORS 98.005 Notice/Report Requirements
Allie stretched out to snatch it out of his hand, but Jack drew it back. He was probably being a nosy asshole, but he was curious.
“‘A person is always required to report found money or property (ORs 98.352 and ORS 98.376) or to pay or deliver unclaimed property to the Department of State Lands, unless the property interest vested prior to August 20, 1957 . . .’”
“I was just finding out more about the laws pertaining to found property,” Allie said, interrupting his reading. “It’s no big deal.”
Jack looked up from the words to meet those dark green eyes. “So you’re thinking of reporting the cash to the authorities?”
“Yes. No.” Allie bit her lip. “I don’t know.”
“But you’re supposed to?”
“I’m not sure yet. The laws are kind of complicated, and I haven’t had time to read all that yet.”
He frowned. “So where’s the money now?”
“Shhh!” She glanced toward the doorway, and Jack glanced over, too.
“Skye’s here?”
“And Wade, too.”
An unwelcome flicker of jealousy burned in his chest, which was stupid. Wade was just a friend. Besides, it’s not like Allie had entered a convent when they split up.
He was still staring at the door like an idiot when he felt Allie tug the paper from his grip. He turned to see her kneeling on the bed in front of him, sliding the paper out of his sweaty fingers.
“Thank you,” she said.
