Page 65 of Road Trip
I choked on my drink, and Stevie turned bright red. She laughed so hard she couldn’t get any air in.
He just laughed again. “I mean, taking it in the ass can be scary for a guy, I guess, but other than that, are you fucking kidding me? I think most guys are up for just about anything.”
“Really? What if Stevie told you she wanted to bring a woman to bed with you?” I wasn’t interested in that, but I wanted to hear what he said.
Stevie did, too, judging by her expression.
“Yeah, McShane. What would you say?” She was teasing, but I wondered if she was curious.
McShane, on the other hand, had screwed himself into a corner. He took a drink and looked back and forth between us. “I don’t know. Honestly. While that’s kind of a fantasy for a lot of men, it’s different when you love someone like I love Stevie. I don’t need that, and I don’t know if I’d even want it. On the other hand, I love her enough that if she needed or wanted it, I’d do it because I want to give her everything she wants.”
We were all quiet after that solemn pronouncement.
“Wow,” I finally said.
Stevie was staring up at him a little teary eyed. “That was pretty amazing, husband. And while there are some extremely attractive women and men out there, I have no room in my heart, nor in my bed, for anyone else but you.”
His answering smile was so drenched with the sappy love they felt for each other I would have fake gagged except what I was seeing was so true. They were the embodiment of the kind of love that most people yearned for their whole lives, but never quite found.
“From what I could tell, Abra, I think anything you want from him, or with him, you’ll get. He didn’t say it in so many words, but he is way into you, and he doesn’t strike me as the kind of guy who does that easily. I’ve known a lot of cops in my life. They can be jovial and fun. They can even interact easily with others, but they are always on guard and they don’t trust people, and sometimes they dwell on the worst of humanity because that’s what they deal with day in and day out. Because they don’t trust people, they sometimes don’t let others get close to them. In Kelly’s case, I bet you he lets you in. You just have a way about you that I don’t think guys who aren’t already with the love of their lives can resist. Face it, my friend. You are the total package! Gorgeous, sexy, smart, sassy…I think he’s already fallen hard for you and I think you feel the same.”
“Yeah, but he’s so young. Maybe he’s not ready to settle down.”
“I don’t see being with you would be settling down exactly,” Stevie said with a laugh. “You’re so spontaneous! I love it that you take these road trips, that you’re so brave to go on your own even. And with both of your jobs full of excitement, I don’t know that you’d ever truly settle down. Whether that’s a good thing or not, I don’t know. And everything has happened so fast, there’s still so much you don’t know about each other. Take time to learn, you know?”
I exhaled. “Well, thank you. I think. I have no clue what’s going to happen. Maybe that’s why I’m freaked out. It’s been so much easier just worrying about myself. It’s easier to avoid getting hurt that way. I’m still not sure about your little theories, McShane, but I’ll give you a pass.”
I thought a lot about what he said while we ate dinner. It kept me from checking my phone to see if he’d texted or whether enough time had passed that he could come walking through the door. Eventually, I couldn’t stand it and started checking my phone. It was nearing seven-fifteen, and I still hadn’t heard from him. I must have shown my frustration on my face because Aaron knocked on the table.
“He’ll be here. Don’t worry. And Slash won’t go on before nine.”
Stevie agreed, but I could tell she felt my pain.
“I’ll be right back,” I said, excusing myself to step outside. Maybe the bars on my phone were lying and I didn’t have any service and he’d already left twenty texts for me, and…
Nothing. I finally decided to text him.
Hey. Just worried about you. I hope everything is okay.
I stood outside for another fifteen minutes, staring at my phone thinking,he changed his mind. He’s not coming.I even checked the news sites thinking maybe his plane had crashed and I would never know in this fucking place because all they showed were videos with half naked people gyrating wildly to shitty music and no one here cared that the love of my life might be burnt to a crisp—
That thought slammed home and caused me to step back and plop onto the bench. I couldn’t believe I even thought that to myself because it had almost become a reality and I shouldn’t even joke about that. But what if those guys caught up with him when he got home and—
“Abey? You okay?” Stevie had come out to check on me. “No! You’re not okay, my lovely. What’s wrong?”
I looked at my phone one more time before hugging Stevie. It was eight o’clock.
“He’s not coming,” I said to her. “He’s either been jumped, his plane crashed, or he decided he doesn’t want to see me, in which case I have a bag of his clothes and I have no idea what to do with them. Should I find his family or should I donate them?”
Stevie wiped a tear from my face and pulled me to her. “Abra, you’re spiraling. I know you’re worried. It could be any of the above reasons. Let’s try calling him, okay?”
I handed her my phone and punched in his number. I stood up quickly and walked away from her, hugging myself, not letting myself be close to her when the call went through. If it was the worst…if he changed his mind…
“No, Kelly, it’s Stevie. Hi. Yeah. She’s…oh. Okay.” She smiled brightly at me and motioned for me to come back. “We’ll settle the bill and meet you there.” She hung up, but my feet wouldn’t move me closer to her.
“He’s here, Abe.”
I nodded, chewing at a fingernail. I turned away from her and tried to get my breathing under control. How the fuck did I let myself get so worked up? Why did I even care? If he’d decided not to come, big fucking deal, right? I needed to get over this in a hurry. I couldn’t allow myself to fall apart over a guy. I didn’t care how special I thought he was.
