“It’s just a truck. If there are crumbs, we have vacuums,” was his argument in that cool, laidback voice.
That wasn’t at all what I was expecting him to come back with. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I’m sure, Luna. Eat your fucking donut. I didn’t buy it for you to look at.”
I mean, if he was going to insist.
I unrolled the top of the bag and stuck my hand in to pull out my treat. My treat that my boss had bought me. Because he might have felt a little bad. I thought. Maybe.
Which he should.
Leaning forward, I grabbed my phone out of my purse and hit the camera icon. Glancing at Rip, I noticed he was still looking forward. I took a picture of the donut, attached it to a text message then shoved my phone under my thigh.
“Didn’t know you were one of those people that took pictures of their food,” he said quietly.
Those people.I pressed my lips together to keep from smiling.
“My little sister really likes these,” I found myself explaining, still trying not to smile. “I’m just rubbing it in her face.”
He took so long responding, I didn’t expect it when the question out of his mouth was, “All three of them are younger than you, yeah?”
I wasn’t even sure how he knew I had three in the first place.
“Yeah, three. My baby sister, the one I sent the picture to, will be eighteen in a few weeks. She’s a senior in high school,” I told him, bringing the donut up to my face and taking a bite, just barely holding back a moan at how good it was. “The other two are nineteen and twenty-one, but they don’t live with me anymore.”
The only thing he did to acknowledge that he’d been listening was nod, and I didn’t feel like offering up any more information that he probably didn’t care much about.
He still didn’t say a word as I ate the rest of it, ignoring how that much sugar made my stomach hurt, but too freaking bad.
Just as I was about to take the second to last bite, I paused. “You want a piece?”
There was a huff that had me turning my neck to look at him. The only side of his face I could see was tilted up. “I’m good.”
I finished off the rest of it before he could change his mind. I was in the middle of licking my fingers clean when Rip spoke up again.
“What time you want to leave tomorrow?”
I almost gulped, but doing that would have been a hint of how much I was dreading the trip, and I didn’t want to give him a reason not to go with me. “The service is at eleven. Is seven-thirty fine?”
There was no hesitation at least verbally, but from where I was sitting I could see the way his cheek flexed, and it only confirmed that I didn’t want to make him think twice about agreeing. “Works for me. I’ll pick you up,” he offered.
“Okay.”
Perfect. Just perfect.
I didn’t want to go. God, I didn’t want to go.
But I was and that wasn’t going to change, so I needed to live with it and accept it. There was no point in ruining the day dreading the inevitable. So, I changed the subject and kept my voice bright. “So, is there anything specific you’re looking to buy today?”
It was the right question to ask.
And if listening to him talk wasn’t a hardship, it was only because he had a nice voice.
* * *
I’d lost him.
Crap!
