Her fingers softly playing in my hair had a lulling effect. “Much.” My voice came out gravelly, and I hoped she didn’t read anything into it.
The song ended, but she stayed in my arms, and I didn’t move to release her. Looking up at me she said, “Are you ready to leave?”
“You already want to head back? It’s still early for a wedding.” I figured she’d want to stay until Amy and Tyler left.
“I know, but we ate dinner, heard the toasts, and danced. I’m sure Amy will understand that we still have a drive ahead of us tonight.” She looked around the room, her eyes stopping on something. I followed her gaze to where Josh sat with Lexi, their heads bent close as they smiled at each other.
Ah, I see. She wanted to leave to get away from Josh. I hadn’t realized she was still so hung up on him. She’d seemed fine over the past month, but maybe being here with him and seeing him with someone else was too much for her.
“I’m ready to go whenever you are.”
She gently pulled out of my arms but grabbed my hand. “Let’s go say bye to Amy and Tyler and my parents, and then we can go.”
We said our goodbyes quickly, congratulating Amy and Tyler again and talking with her parents about how it was nice to meet each other and that they hoped to see me again.
All in all, it had been a successful night. Isla hadn’t been alone, scoring a boyfriend, not just a date. Josh was pissed, and I had put him in his place. Isla’s parents loved me. And the town gossip Marabeth had been watching us and whispering to her old cronies throughout the night.
We reached my Jeep, and I opened the door for her.
“Do you mind if I change in the backseat real quick?” she asked. “I don’t want to wear this dress during the ride home.”
Closing the front passenger door, I opened up the back door instead. Once she was inside, I walked around the back of my jeep, opening my door.
“What are you doing?” Isla asked in a panicked voice.
Sliding into my seat, I shut the door. “Getting in the car.”
“Um, but I’m going to be half-naked back here,” she reminded me. “I thought you’d wait outside until I was done.”
“Don’t worry, Isla. I won’t look,” I said calmly, pulling out my phone to scroll social media as I waited for her. “And it’s nothing I haven’t seen before.”
An exasperated noise came from behind me. “You for sure have not seenmebefore.”
I looked at her through the rearview mirror. “We could change that.”
She smacked me in the arm, hard, but I just laughed. “I’m teasing.”
“If you so much as peek back here, I will kick you where the sun don’t shine,” she warned.
“I would never take advantage of a girl,” I told her, hoping she would know I was being sincere. “I will respect your privacy and keep my eyes down.”
“Thank you,” she said, and I returned my attention back to my phone.
I heard her rustling in the back seat and tried to ignore the fact that Isla was going to be half-naked, as she had said, in my car. I also tried really hard to not think about what kind of underwear she was wearing. Was it lacy? Was it sheer? Was it the same color pink as her dress?
Okay, so I obviously needed to try harder to keep my thoughts from the beautiful blonde changing out of her dress. I clicked on a football video to try and get my mind distracted on something else.
Not even a minute had passed before her heavy sigh filled the car. “Slate?” she said timidly.
“Yeah?” I made sure to keep my eyes glued to my phone.
“I, uh…need your help with the zipper.” She sounded defeated, like asking me to help her was the last thing she wanted.
“You need help with your zipper,” I reiterated, keeping my eyes on my phone, although I couldn’t have told you what was on the screen.
“Yes, I think it’s stuck or something,” she said. “I just need you to get it free and down a couple inches, and I can do the rest.”
Putting down my phone, I turned in my seat to face Isla. She sat sideways on the backseat, twisting so I could have access to the zipper on her dress. Turning around as best I could, I tried to lean between the two seats to get close enough to help her. My fingers found the small pink metal zipper, and when I went to pull it down, it didn’t budge. I tried a few more times, but nothing. My size and angle of approach, combined with the lack of light, weren’t helping. Hoping adding light would help, I turned on the inside overhead light to get a better look at the problem.
