They’d been talking so intently that Gina had lost track of directions. Again. “Did I miss the turnoff for the highway?”
“It’s coming up in about a mile. Did you just get your license or something?”
“Did anyone ever tell you that you’re a moron?”
He laughed. “A time or two, yes. Why don’t you pull over and let me drive?”
“Not in this lifetime, pretty boy.”
“Pretty boy?” He slanted her a glance and quirked a brow. “How is it that you’re able to find your way around Los Angeles but can’t manage a small country lane that only runs in two directions?”
“I manage to get around here just fine without you in the car.”
“You still find me distracting, huh?”
She blew out a loud raspberry. “Still high on yourself, I see.”
“Turn right up here to get on forty-nine.”
“I know where I’m going.” Frankly, she would’ve missed the turn had he not said something. To compensate, she hung the right a little too sharply and her tires squealed.
He exaggerated a grab for the roof handle. “Slow down there, Mario.”
She looked over at the passenger seat where his long, denim-encased legs were splayed wide. The tip of his boots reached the front of the floorboard, even with the chair extended all the way back.
“What do you want at Tess’?” he asked.
“Maybe an ice cream maker, not sure yet.”
“Then why are we going?”
“To get out of the house, mainly. And to spend quality time with you.” She flashed a saccharine smile. “So are Jill and Brett getting a divorce?”
“You sure are interested in people you don’t even know.”
“It’s better than thinking about myself.”
“I thought that was your favorite pastime.”
She reached up, took off the silly straw cowboy hat, and flung it in the back seat. No one would recognize her in the car. And it was hot as Hades today and the hat added ten degrees.
“Well, are they divorcing or not?”
“I think they’re trying to work it out, at least according to Jace. I don’t know Brett all that well, only that he’s a vet, who came back from war in a wheelchair.”
“Oh my God. He can’t walk?”
“He’s a paraplegic.”
She gasped. “That is so sad. And then his wife sleeps with the best friend. Holy crap.”
“Yep. The whole thing was a shit show. After the separation, he moved to Sacramento and enrolled in a vocational training program for disabled vets. Carpentry, I think.”
He cocked his head. “Speaking of cheating spouses, I’m having a friend look at that picture of you and Danny Clay on the beach to see if it was doctored.”
“To see? The picture’s completely one-hundred-percent bogus,” she said, heated, then reminded herself that he was trying to help her. “But thank you.” Gina was surprised he’d gone to the trouble. The fact that Sawyer even believed her was a minor miracle. She suspected no one else would. “Your mom is also having it looked at by an expert she knows.”
“I wouldn’t have expected anything less from her. But I figure it doesn’t hurt to get a second opinion.”
