Page 56 of Road Trip
“I am grateful you let me be a part of it. After that concert, I can totally understand the appeal. It was really, really great. The music, the people, everything. But then I’m finding that everything is better with you.” He pulled my hand toward his lips and gave my knuckles a gentle kiss.
My breath caught in my chest and I felt tears burn the back of my eyes.
“You are going to ruin me for anyone else, you know. You are so damn cute and charming!”
He smirked at me, and I felt his foot nudge mine under the table. “Good. One must have a goal.”
“Kelly, you really want to take on an older woman, who lives in the town you hate, who also has two older women who depend on her, and who spends a good amount of time in a really dark place? That’s not exactly—”
“Abra,” he said, halting my rant. “What dark place?”He stared at me a long time and then shook his head. “You have the most insightful way of viewing the world. You have a good heart, and you are generous. I could give a rat’s behind about your age! And this dark place? Abra, it’s not who you are. It’s a part of you, sure, just as the job is a part of me. But it’s not all of me, and after everything that’s just happened, I’m debating whether it’s going to continue to be a part of me.”
It was his turn to sit back with a huff. I had a feeling this had something to do with his phone call. “Kelly, what happened?”
He crossed his arms over his chest.“That was my lieutenant who called. My partner had a routine traffic stop today that turned into a probation search. In the process, he found my uniform shirt and my service revolver on the guy. It was likely one of the guys involved in the assault and they need me to come back and identify him.”
I let out a long breath and let that sink in. This was it. Back to reality. Playtime was over.
“Of course, no, you have to go. I’m so sorry.”
“I think I should catch a flight tonight.” He looked down at his plate and pushed his food around. He looked forlorn. There were tears in his eyes that he blinked back to keep from escaping.
I couldn’t stand it. I reached for his hand, and he didn’t look at me. I knew he was struggling with going back, but it seemed like much more than that.
“Can I drive you?”
“No, doll. I don’t want to impose on you any more than I already have. I’ll take a cab from the hotel.” More food moving stalling techniques. “Can I ask what you plan to do next?”
He sounded so heartbroken. I wished he would let me go with him, stay by his side, but with everything between us being so new, I didn’t know what my role could even be.
“I hadn’t decided. I mean, after the concert I was planning on just bopping around Hollywood for a few days, maybe going to the desert or hitting the beach. There’s always meeting Aaron and Stevie in Vegas.” My heart was pounding. “What are you thinking?”
He kind of shrugged and got that shy look. “I don’t know. It’s kind of crazy.”
I laughed out loud. “Um, haven’t we been doing crazy for the past four days? Has it only been four days? I feel like I’ve known you longer,” I said with a laugh, but then I smiled at him. “What do you want to do, Kelly?”
He looked up at me and the shadows from the swamp behind him and the candlelight playing across his face gave him such a dramatic appearance. “I want to spend more time with you. I want to come back and meet you somewhere, but I don’t want to smother you.”
“I want that, too.” There were a million reasons why we shouldn’t, but the reasons we should were all that mattered to me. “We have unfinished business, you and I, and honestly, Kelly, I don’t think I would like it very much if I never saw you again.”
His smile brightened considerably just in time for the server to bring our check. The server looked horrified.
“Was there a problem with your meals?” We both looked down and sure enough, neither of us had managed to do much eating with the heavy conversation we’d had.
“Actually it was great, we just got distracted. Please pass on our appreciation to the chef.” I snuck my card out and handed it to the server before Kelly could.
“Hey! Abra!”
I just grinned innocently. “Babe, let me treat. Please. You’ve already done so much for me.”
“And I want to do so much more. Say we can meet up after I’m through with the department. Please, doll. I don’t want to let you go.”
Kelly
“Do you want to meet me in Vegas? The show sounds fun and I haven’t been in years.” She looked nervous. Could she not tell?
“I very much want to meet you in Vegas. Do you have any idea where?” My voice sounded really deep. I cleared my throat, but her pursed lips had me thinking I wasn’t going to be talking normal around her.
She took a draw on her water, and I could barely contain my excitement. “I believe they said the show was at the Joint, so that means Hard Rock. I’ve never been there, but from what I hear it’s pretty swank. I don’t even know if they have tickets left, though.”
