I put my phone in my pocket, grabbed my key fob, a bottle of water from the fridge, and pulled on one of my coats from the coat closet. I locked up and headed to the garage. As I backed out of the garage, my phone made a noise in my pocket. I closed the garage door and pulled the phone out to look at it.
No. Thank you, though. Did you get some sleep?
I did. A lot. I can’t remember the last time I’ve felt so rested. Heading to Denver now. I’ll catch you later.
I put the phone on the charging tray and made my way down to the main road. The lengthy drive afforded me time to let my mind wander. I thought about the trip to Sweden, Aria’s dad, Michael, Taylor, and those kids. Just as I was thinking ahead to tonight, my phone rang. I glanced at the touch screen on the center console. I narrowed my eyes when I saw one of my sisters was calling. I pressed the button on the steering wheel to answer the call.
“Hey, Scarlett. What’s up?”
“Hi, little bro! I talked to Mom last night and, since I’m going to be at the restaurant in Aspen tonight, she told me about you and your date—”
“It’s not a date.”
“Right. Anyhow, I spoke to the maître d’, and he assured me that he will have everything taken care of for you tonight.”
“Seriously, it’s not a date. She works with Michael.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah, see? Not a date.”
I could hear someone else in the background talking and then Scarlett’s voice was muffled through the receiver, like she was trying to conceal what she was saying. But I understood every word quite clearly.
“He said it’s one of Michael’s people and it’s not a date.”
“Scar, who are you talking to?”
“Sienna is with me.”
I rolled my eyes at the mention of my other sister.Two against one.
“Scar, seriously, I don’t need any issues tonight.”
“Okay, okay. Mom thought you were hiding your girlfriend,” she said.
“If I was hiding her, why would I bring her to one of the family-owned restaurants?” She didn’t have a response for that. “Look, I’m driving and need to get off the phone now. Thank you for arranging everything for tonight.”
“You’re welcome, and I might see you tonight.”
“Fine, just please keep it professional, Scar.”
“I will. Bye.”
Once I arrived in Denver, I went to the mall on the east side of town and parked. After almost two hours of driving and talking to my sister, getting out and walking some would feel good. I found the store I was looking for and was greeted by an employee as I entered.
“Hello. May I help you find anything?”
“Yeah.” I dug into my jeans pocket and pulled out a tiny bottle of hand sanitizer that was nearly gone. “I need some of these.”
The woman took the bottle from my hands and smiled. “Right this way.”
“That scent is one of our summer scents from last year, but we have many other scents you can choose from.”
“I don’t need to pick. They kind of give me a headache. Maybe just tell me which ones are good.”
I stood by the display as the woman carried on about the benefits of hand sanitizer. She informed me that the wide variety of scents made battling germs fun. Had I been a kid or anti-soap, it would have been a great product pitch.
“Anything that resembles a fruit scent would be good,” I said.
