Page 46 of Road Trip
“You might be right, but I can handle myself. I wouldn’t say something if I thought it could go south. That lady just pissed me off.” She put her arms around my waist and curled up to my chest. My breath caught as she looked up at me.
“I’m sorry if it makes you uncomfortable, Kelly. This is me.” She looked worried, like that was going to change my mind.
I cupped her gorgeous face in my hands and kissed her deeply. She moaned against me and her knee brushed up my leg. I opened an eye and saw we needed to move forward, so I picked her up around the waist and hugged her to me, still kissing her. She smiled against my lips.
“I know it’s you. I’m not complaining. I just want you to be careful.I love that you speak your mind.” We’d certainly hit a few more roadblocks today. Would we get past them?I had to be honest with her. “That doesn’t mean I’m not going to worry. That’s just me. I’ve seen too many situations go wrong over words being exchanged.”
She slid down my front and smiled at me. “I know. Thank you,” she whispered and pushed up on her toes to kiss me once more. Then it was our turn to climb onto the pirate ship and sail off on a fantastical voyage!
We went back to the hotel in the afternoon for a bit and when we got up to the room, I sat in the big chair and started making a list of some things I figured I better take care of soon: a phone, calls to work and the CHP, my car…my job. Could I really go back to work like everything was okay after this? What if those guys found me again? What if they knew who I was and came after my family? And what about my partner? He’d been just as involved with the case. I needed to call him. I just didn’t want to deal with it yet. Just one more day. I’d give myself one more day. It was getting harder and harder to put the worry aside. I was feeling it in my gut.
Abra came out and plopped down on my lap. God, I loved it when she did that. She fit so perfectly against me and was so tiny I could scoop her up and put her right where I wanted. She looked down at the notepad and frowned.
“Is it time to face reality?” She looked concerned.
“Not completely, no, but I do need to take care of a few things.”
Her bottom lip poked out a little. “It’s easy to forget what happened while we’re frolicking around the park, but I keep remembering what I saw…I hate it that you’ve got such a mess to deal with right now. I wish there were more I could do for you.”
“You’ve done the best thing anyone could do in this situation. You’ve kept me distracted, you’ve taken care of me, and I’m grateful, doll.”
“Yeah, but as much fun as we’re having, I know you’ve got things weighing on you.”
I exhaled and pulled her close, resting my cheek on her shoulder.
“You’re right. I’m just tired. I know I have to face the music, but I just…I’m not ready to make the decisions I need to make, you know what I mean?”
“Decisions? Like work?”
I nodded. “Yeah. I don’t know what I’m going to do, and normally I can’t stand that. I’ve got to have a handle on it. But I’m trying to let myself just be in the moment. I don’t have to solve everything right this minute, right?”
Her pause led me to believe she wasn’t convinced.
“I’ll deal with it, I will. But for now, these are just a few little chores that need attending to. Like getting more underwear.”
That got her laughing. She tugged at the hair on the back of my head gently, something I’d noticed she’d done once before and it felt really good.
“As long as I’m not keeping you from what you need to do,” she said, looking worried. “Baby steps is okay, but I’m here if and when you’re ready to use me as a sounding board. I would love to be able to support you through this, Kelly.”
“You are. Being with you is where I want to be right now. Well, after I work out. I’m going to go out for a bit, but I’ll be back in about an hour, okay?”
She nodded and pulled my face toward hers for a gentle kiss. I cupped her bottom and pulled her closer to me, turning her to straddle my lap. She rocked her hips a little and nibbled my ear.
“I also hope to have a surprise for you.”
She pulled back and frowned at me. “I don’t do surprises, Kelly. I don’t like shit sprung on me, you know what I mean?”
Whoa. Where did that come from?
“Not even dinner reservations? Do you mean no surprises ever?”
“I guess that would be fine. I just don’t like surprises. I don’t like walking into shit and…look, I don’t mean to be such a bitch. I know I can be difficult…”
“Abra,” I said, choosing my words carefully. But we needed to be able to talk about this. “It’s not being difficult. But can you tell me why? Don’t assume I’m going to do something to hurt you. I would never want to make you uncomfortable.”
“It’s not that…just, please? Don’t try to surprise me. I don’t like it and I would hate to go allAüber-bitch on you.”
“Copy that. No surprises. But can I take you to a nice dinner? Something a little fancier than shoving a giant piece of meat in my mouth?”
