THIRTY-THREE
Amanda and Trent dropped off the financial paperwork and parted ways with the agreement they’d set out for the DC law firm first thing. They also called the office and made an appointment for ten AM with the managing partner, Howard Gabay. That left her and Trent with the rest of the evening to enjoy.
But when she stepped into her house, she was blanketed with loneliness. Zoe wasn’t here. To make the stillness worse, Hernandez’s face popped into her mind with his smug smile. She shook aside the sudden chill that came with the image. That monster had no right to violate her peace, especially in her home, which was to be her place of refuge.
She flung her shoes off and kept walking through the home to the bathroom, where she ran a hot shower and let it blast her skin. She stayed there until the water ran cold, and even a bit after, trying to drown out all thoughts of the drug kingpin.
Her cell phone rang on the bathroom sink, and she turned off the taps and squeezed out between the curtain and the wall. She was dripping all over the floor, but whatever… If it was the job calling, she’d be there. She lit up at the sight of Carter’s name on her screen. “Hello, there,” she answered.
“Oh? Should I take the lack of a formal greeting as a good sign? Are you off the clock?”
“You should know better than to ask that.”
“Right, you’re always on the clock. I was calling to see if you’re up for company.”
“How fast can you get here?”
“Given how happy you sound to hear from me, maybe not fast enough.”
“See you soon.” She ended the call and dried off.
There was a knock on the front door.
Maybe Carter was just down the street when he called. She wrapped the towel around herself, deciding to greet Carter just like that.
“I’m coming,” she said, prancing through the living room.
She’d come through the garage, so she hadn’t dealt with the mail that was spread on the floor of her entry. It had been pushed with abandon through the mail slot. She gathered it up and tossed it onto the entry table. One envelope fell to the ground, maybe more than one. She didn’t care.
She opened the door, wedging herself between it and the frame. It only took one second for mortification to hit. “Ah, Dad.”
He smiled and turned away. “It seems I’m interrupting plans.”
“No, no, it’s fine.” She gave an anxious look over his shoulder to see if Carter was pulling up. There was no one else in sight. “Ah, come in. I’ll just go put something on.” She held ever tighter on the top of the towel as she backed up and headed for the hallway.
She heard her father come inside and set the dropped mail on the table.
“You know you don’t have to hide your boyfriends from me,” her dad called out to her.
She was in her bedroom, desperately wanting to put the lastforty seconds behind her. Hearing him label Carter as her boyfriend had her freaking out a bit. That label landed as a blow to her chest and snatched her breath.
She shuffled through her drawer in search of a pale-blue shirt with the wordsBRING ON THE SUNSHINE. It was made of light-weight material and fit her curves perfectly.Where the hell is that T-shirt…And there it was! She snatched it and put it over her lacy bra. Then slipped a pair of capri shorts over lacy thong underwear. At least she was ready for Carter after her dad left.
“Should I leave? I mean, it’s clear you have a guy coming over.”
“No, it’s fine. You’re here now.” She rushed back to the living room, where she found her dad on the couch. “Do you want water, tea, coffee…?”
“I’m good. I brought this for you, though.” He held up a brown bag from Petey’s Patties.
She’d been so self-conscious and shocked by him being on her front step she hadn’t even noticed it before. “You’re spoiling her, aren’t you?” The burger joint was Zoe’s favorite restaurant.
“You bet we are, but everyone at the house ate early. I drove by here on the way home with the order and saw you were here. I thought knowing you, you were starving yourself, so I made another trip to the place.” He handed her the bag. “Bacon double cheeseburger, extra onions. That’s the way you like it if I remember right.”
“You did. Thanks, Dad, but you didn’t have to do that.”
“I wanted to.”
The smells coming from the bag had her stomach rumbling, but she didn’t want to devour a burger with all that onion before Carter got here.
