I swallowed another bite of pancakes and stared at him as I licked the fork. “You plotted out the trip.”
“Yeah. I mean, I’m open to suggestions, but—”
“This morning.”
“That’s what I said. I’ve been up since five. I did some planning, snuck in a quick workout, and I was ready to jump in the shower when you knocked.”
Jesus. Why was that so damn attractive? I knew it was partly because he was so freakin’ capable and responsible, and that had always been attractive. But part of it was because, despite what he thought, Ihadn’thad an entourage to rely on over the years, or anyone really. I’d had Debbie, and Oak, and some other people on Debbie’s team, but they were there to take care of Jayd… not Jay.
I knew Rafe wasn’t really taking care of me either. This trip was about my sister, and I was just the guy with the van, but it still felt nice.
My gaze tracked over Rafe’s dark hair and the little creases at the corners of his eyes. The way his T-shirt clung to the defined muscles of his arms. The way his big hand clutched his fork.
The sad truth was, he was as attractive to me as he’d ever been. And every bit as out of reach.
“This is the part where you call me the world’s biggest control freak,” Rafe said, making a gimme motion with his hand. “Go ahead. I’m braced.”
“It’s no fun insulting you when you’re expecting it.” I stood up from the table, hoping he wouldn’t notice how quickly my mood had tanked. “I’m gonna take a walk. Too restless to eat.”
Rafe frowned like he wanted to say something, but when he opened his mouth, all that came out was “You want the keys?” He held them out to me.
“Yes. Always.” I shoved them into the front pocket of my sweatshirt. “I’ll be out front.”
I walked back to the front desk, where Shelly stood texting something into her cell phone.Shit.I didn’t want to have to deal with Rafe’s offended groupie.
But when she looked up at me, she seemed curious and had none of the bad attitude I’d expected.
“Can I pay the check, please?”
“M’kay.” She set down her phone and activated the old cash register with a thump. “So how long have you and the cutie… you know?”
I shook my head blankly.
“Been involved,” she elaborated.
“What? Oh! No. That was a joke. We’re old friends. Sort of.” I glanced back at the table where Rafe had his dark head bent over his phone, possibly calculating how many tanks of gas we’d need based on the cargo weight of the van and the wind speed and direction between here and Kansas City. It should not have made my stomach go all warm and melty. “He’s not interested in me that way.”
She snorted. “Fine, then. Keep your secrets if you like.” She hit a few keys. “But I wasn’t born yesterday, and those sparks I felt dancing around y’all werenotfriendship.”
“They weren’t?”
She snorted. “Sixteen forty-five.”
I handed over my credit card and tried to figure out how to make her elaborate, though maybe it was better if she didn’t.
“Here’s some free advice, honey.” She handed over my card and the receipt to sign. “If you’re not hitting that, it’s not for lack of interest on his part.”
“It’s not?” I looked back at Rafe again, and this time I found him looking at me, so I quickly looked away.
“Ain’t no such thing as a one-sided spark,” Shelly assured me.
I added on an enormous tip and thanked her, then walked back out into the sunshine.
The morning chill had burned off, so I threw my sweatshirt in the back seat, grabbed my baseball hat, and spent a few minutes sitting against the front bumper of the van, since the inside still smelled like a department store perfume counter in hell.
This whole trip was aboutAimee,I reminded myself for the umpteenth time. Not me reviving an old crush or even an old friendship. I needed Rafe to get me into the hospital, and I maybe needed to convince him to convince Aimee to tell me what the fuck was going on. Getting involved with him in any way would only backfire.
And even after I got to see my sister, I had a billion other issues to deal with, like what to do with my career. The overly friendly voicemail Debbie had left last night asking me to call her had either meant she planned to drop me as a client or wanted to beg meagainto do some kind of come-out interview for the media, neither of which I wanted.
