As Taylor and I walked back to my SUV, I felt my cell phone vibrate in my coat, alerting me of incoming texts. Not just once, though. So far I had counted five notifications. After we got into the warm SUV, I pulled out the phone. All the texts were from Michael.
Hey, man, I have a thing for you to take care of tonight.
You around?
Irving went to collect a debt and it went sideways.
He has it contained, but I’d rest easier knowing you were there and made sure it was handled.
Are you entertaining?
I sighed and held the phone out so Taylor could see the texts.
“Duty calls,” she said. Thankfully Taylor understood my responsibilities for Michael were a priority.
I pulled the phone back in front of me and began typing out a reply. I spoke out loud what I was texting to Michael so Taylor would know I wasn’t bringing her up.
I’m in Aspen. I visited the restaurant, but I’m heading back to Vail now. Text me the address, and tell Irving I’m about two hours away with the snow.
I set the phone on the charging tray and backed out of the parking spot. Once we got out on the road, I reached across the center console and playfully jostled Taylor’s leg.
“You and I will have to take a rain check on tonight,” I said.
“Not a problem. I know how it is,” she replied.
I felt confident that she truly did understand. Most women wouldn’t.
“Either way, I still had a nice night. Actually, it was more than nice. It was one of the nicest nights I’ve had in a long time. Kind of a bummer, though, that I hate you so much,” she said dryly.
I shook my head and laughed at her comments.
“I know! Can you imagine what a wild night it could have been if you didn’t hate me?”
“I shudder to think.”
We were quiet for a long stretch of the road and then her focus turned to work.
“I wonder what happened with Irving.”
“I have no idea. Sometimes he doesn’t think things through and just goes in half-cocked.”
“And now you have to bail him out,” she said.
“Don’t feel bad, Taylor. This kind of stuff is coming your way soon, now that you’ve been promoted. Pretty soon we’ll be doing rock, paper, scissors to see which one of us gets to take care of the cleanup.”
“I’m actually looking forward to it.”
A grin spread across my face as I pictured the music notes on her spine.
“I know you are.”
We drove the rest of the way mostly in silence. She hadn’t made any more sarcastic comments about hating me or anything like that. Taylor understood the nature of our work for Michael required a focused mind.
I pulled around Taylor’s driveway and put the SUV in park.
“You don’t need to walk me to the door—”
Taylor started to protest as I got out of the SUV, but I’d already closed the door, cutting her off. I jogged around to the passenger side to find that she had the door open and was sliding out.
