Page 5 of Falling Madly
I had to join Trevor and make note of everything that was wrong with that office to ensure this idiotic move never happened.
Trevor glanced at me. “I’ll take your facial cramp as a yes.”
I huffed. How did other people play it cool? I didn’t even have micro expressions, only macro ones—obvious, overwhelming emotions I couldn’t hide.
Outside the car, suburban Denver blurred by in shades of gray under a cloudy white sky. I took a deep breath. No cigarette smell. Odd. Was it masked by some car fragrance?Trevor didn’t look exactly like I remembered, either. When had I last seen him in person? It had been so easy to avoid him at the tiny office with a timeshare desk.
We’d both been smokers once. I used to tell myself I was just a social smoker, nowhere near as bad as Trevor. But I’d been addicted. After his betrayal, when we still worked at WildeCreative, I was so desperate to hide from him that I’d finally quit smoking. I didn’t want to risk bumping into Trevor on the balcony or other usual spots.
But now, he smelled different. It must have been a while since his last cigarette, or I had polyps in my nose and needed surgery. Anything was possible. Either way, I was grateful for the relatively fresh air, given I’d be trapped in the car with him for two hours.
Being increasingly hungry was probably a bigger issue. After my stomach audibly growled, I spoke on its behalf. “Can we stop for food? I’m not picky. I’ll eat anything that isn’t nailed down.”
Trevor’s lips tugged into a smile. “Open the glove box.”
Casting him a suspicious look, I released the latch, letting the lid fall on my knees. There, on top of a pile of car manuals, sat a plastic container and on top of it, a fork. I opened it and my eyes widened. It was a huge portion of fresh Niçoise salad with tuna, beans, potatoes, and boiled eggs. My favorite.
How could he have known? I hadn’t ordered it with the team, had I? I only bought it from the corner deli on my days off when I was too lazy to cook.
“Thank you,” I mumbled, shoving a forkful into my mouth. It was delicious. In fact, it tasted exactly like the one from my corner deli. “Is this for the both of us? There’s a lot in here.”
“I already ate.”
“Oh. Well, thank you. I’ll pay you back.”
The suburbia turned into occasional farmhouses, and the snowcapped mountains glowed on the horizon like pointy, cream-covered chocolate cakes. I was clearly in the mood for dessert.
“Can ye reach behind my seat?” Trevor asked as I finished the salad. “There’s a bag.”
I pulled out a small cooler bag, unzipped it and discovered an individually packaged piece of chocolate cake covered with sticky ganache. “What’s this?”
“I thought it’d make the road trip a bit more special.”
“Special?” I narrowed my eyes in confusion. “Why did you even pack me a lunch? It’s way past lunchtime.”
“Ye said ye were off to grab lunch. And it’s always that Indian place, isn’t it?”
I gave a slow nod, thinking back to our chat history. I might have occasionally mentioned my guts being on fire after those samosas.
“It’s the only place within reasonable walking distance.”
“I know. I planned to catch ye just in time.” He frowned, staring at the road. “I didn’t mean to catch the… ye know… the Dick show.” He was quiet for a moment. “Are ye okay?”
I let out a wobbly huff. “Of course not.”
“No, I mean, do you think ye gonnae be?”
“Probably. It’s not like I dreamed of marrying him and having his babies.”
In fact, I’d never dreamed of that with anyone.
“You didn’t?” He sounded genuinely surprised.
“No. We were just… dating.”
“Exclusively?”
“I thought so. He wanted me to meet his parents. We were planning a trip to Bali.”
