“Here, I’ll carry that.” I took the bag off her shoulder and hoisted it onto mine.
“Do you need anything else?”
“No, I don’t think so.” She rubbed her lips together, her eyes moving over my face.
“What’s… you have something on your face.”
“I do?” I wiped the left side, but she shook her head.
“Right here.” She smiled as she reached forward with her thumb and swiped to the right of my mouth. I almost shuddered at having her touch me.
“Is this jelly?”
My face flushed. “Yes.” I didn’t want to admit that I couldn’t cook and had resorted to a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Hell, I didn’t even make that because work got in the way.
“I’ll put this in the back. You get in the front.”
She remained quiet as I loaded her equipment into the trunk. This was a good sign. She was letting me drive her. Sure, it was because she was terrified of driving in bad weather, but I’d take whatever I could get. She wasn’t shoving me away or worse—having Matt drive her.
After we buckled in, I plugged the event location into GPS.
“Okay, what music are you feeling?”
“How did you know where the event is?”
“I always know where you are.” I met her gaze. “I know you might not believe this, but I check your schedule every day. Even if I never shared that with you, my morning routine is always to see your calendar if there was any opening where we could grab lunch.”
“We haven’t grabbed lunch in months,” she whispered, her attention moving to the window. “We used to.”
Sadness pierced me at her resigned tone. It was her giving-up tone.
“I know we did, hon, and I’m so sorry I stopped prioritizing that time together. Life got away from me the last few years.”
She hummed in response, not confirming whether she believed me. She crossed one leg over the other, her dress revealing her very toned leg, and heat coursed through me. My wife was ridiculously hot. I was obsessed with every part of her. We’d been intimate weeks ago, and if I had known that it could’ve been the last time with her, I would’ve slowed down. I would’ve spent an hour on every part of her, savoring her sounds and the way she felt.
“Thanks for letting me drive you. I like being around you.” There, that was genuine and tested the waters. If she shut me down, I’d be quiet and drive in silence. I gripped the wheel as she played with a button on her coat, her nervous energy quite palpable.
“I loved when we drove around in the summer with the windows down and seeing who could sing the loudest.” She grinned, the expression so surprising that my breath caught in my throat. “Do you remember that car of teens who saw us and laughed their asses off?”
“I sure do.” I chuckled. “You really brought your best Celine Dion that day.”
“And you and your Freddie Mercury.”
The pang behind my heart relaxed. This was good.
“Are you up for another singing challenge?”
“Right now?” Her eyebrows skyrocketed.
“Why the hell not? We have an hour in the car, and I have a feeling taking over me I can’t stop.” I dialed the radio to the station where there was always a holiday song playing once it hit December. “Christmas edition, obviously.”
“Connor, we can’t…”
“Why?” I glanced at her, and she stared at me, a half smile, half wince on her face. “Are you afraid you’ll lose?”
She wet her bottom lip before laughing. “You know I’ll kick your ass, but us singing, having fun… is that weird?”
“Uh, no? Why would it be weird?”
