Page 80 of The Affair
Because if she was telling the truth—if my mom did indeed miss me—why hadn’t she called?
And why had she run away in the first place?
* * *
“Keep your eyes on the road,”I instructed.
“I would, but I keep getting distracted.”
We’d been driving for a full five minutes since he’d picked me up for our date, and I thought the man had checked me out at least half of that time. It was a miracle we were still alive, considering the amount of time he’d spent not looking at the road.
“You’re the one who suggested I wear this dress,” I reminded him.
He grinned, looking rather impressive himself in a fitted dark gray suit. I’d known Sawyer for years, decades even, so I’d seen him dressed for all sorts of occasions, but until recently, I guessed I hadn’t really seen him.
Before, he’d just been Sawyer, the brother of Reed.
Now, he was Sawyer, and he was mine.
Or at least, I hoped he would be after this night.
“Are you going to tell me where we are going?” I asked, catching him eyeing me again.
“You’ll find out soon enough.”
“If you don’t kill us first,” I chided.
“I’ll take care of you, Elle. I always will. Don’t worry.”
And I wasn’t. For the first time in a long time, I wasn’t worried in the least.
Driving into town, I couldn’t help but notice all the Halloween decorations. Usually, I was too busy driving to check them out, but now that I was in the passenger seat, I could finally sit back and enjoy the view. There were orange and purple lights on rooftops, those tacky inflatable yard decorations everyone seemed to love, and of course, lots and lots of cobwebs.
“Did you see that house on the corner with the two skeletons?” I asked as I turned my head, trying to catch one last glimpse as we drove by.
He nodded. “Yeah, if you pay attention, they actually change them daily. Last week, they were holding a Happy Birthday sign up for their son. Yesterday, it looked like they were acting out a scene from a play.”
I laughed, wishing I had seen it before now. “That’s awesome. Today, I think they were having a romantic dinner. They were both dressed up and seated at a table with flowers in the middle.”
He stole a look in my direction. “Well, how about that?”
Had he had a hand in that?
Before I could ask, we were parking. Our town was only but so big, so as I glanced around, I quickly found our destination and grinned.
“Roma’s? I love this place!”
“Yeah? I wasn’t sure, but I took a chance since you loved the gnocchi I made. Their Italian is out of this world.”
“I’ve only been here a handful of times. Reed didn’t—” I stopped, realizing I was starting our date by talking about my ex.
“It’s fine, Elle. We can’t ignore our pasts.”
I wanted to say I knew very little about his, but I merely nodded. “I like the restaurant.”
Smiling, he answered, “Good.”
Stepping out of the car, he walked around, and I took the moment to appreciate the way he looked in his suit. It was true; the man could devastate most of the female population in a simple T-shirt and jeans, but in this? We were all done for.
