I must be misreading her.
She has to know by now that she can tell me anything.
"I get it."
She sighs.
"You had Atticus worried there for a minute, though, when you didn't call as soon as you got back to the apartment."
"Can a girl not use the bathroom?"
I hold my hands up before setting them back on the wheel. "Didn't say that."
Fuck, she's wound tight. And I know what she needs to help herself relax. That was the whole point of this week, after all. A break from the pretense. From the stress and having to wear the mask.
Ro shifts in her seat, still keeping an eye on the SUV in our rearview every few minutes as we leave Boone and get on the highway. We fall into a tense silence for a solid twenty miles before I start to worry our little friend thirty yards back may not back off.
But when the next exit comes up, our tail takes it, and we both sigh in relief.
"Fuck." I laugh. "Didn't think it would take them that long to run the plates. Another ten miles and we'd have missed the drop point for the car."
"The what?"
I shake my head, shedding the beard, scarf, and gloves, then the hat. I run tatted fingers through my hair and tuck the shit behind my seat.
Ro takes me in as I fiddle with the stations until I find something a little more to our taste.
"Better?" I ask with an arched brow, rubbing a palm over my jaw where it still itches from the beard.
"Much. Don't ever dress up as my foster dad again. And definitely don't try tokissme while dressed as him, either."
She makes a face and turns to continue staring out the window. As the last bit of light leaves the sky, the hollows beneath her eyes darken, and I have to wonder if she's slept at all since I spent the night. Judging by those dark circles, if she has, it's definitely not been enough.
No wonder she's so wound up.
"Hey," I say, pulling her attention back to me with a finger hooked beneath her chin. "Are you okay?"
Her jaw tenses, but she nods. Then something in her eyes breaks. "I'm sorry."
"What for?"
"I'm just—" She motions with her hands. "Ugh, I don't know, I'm frustrated, but not at you, and I know it's coming out that way, and I can't seem to stop it, and I'm really…really…like?—"
She makes a sound of frustration in the back of her throat and presses her hands to her eyes, rubbing them a little too hard.
I brush the pad of my thumb over her cheek, drawing her attention back to me. "Hey, come here, Ro."
She leans in against me and sighs as I wrap an arm around her back, holding her close while I steer one-handed. "What do you say when this is all done, we spend a few months someplace warm? No work. No stress. Just palm trees and ocean waves."
"Sounds like heaven," she sighs.
"How about Bali? Or maybe the Maldives?"
"Yes, please."
"Done. And, Ro?"
"Mm?"
