“What are you doing here?” I asked him.
“I set my phone alarm before I dropped you off,” he explained. He looked at Salem and Hadley. “Hello.”
“Uh, hi Brooks,” Hadley said, a slow smile creeping across her mouth.
“They got back to town and tracked me down,” I explained.
“We can give her a ride back to town,” Hadley said.
“Wewillgive her a ride back to town,” Salem commanded. “We need some Poet time.”
Brooks smiled and nodded. He kissed the top of my head. “I’ll see you back at the Ridge then.”
“For dinner,” Salem said. “You’re coming to dinner tonight, too. Right?”
“Do I have a choice?” Brooks asked.
“Nope,” Salem said with a grin.
“Didn’t think so.” He kissed my lips and then released me. “You feeling okay?”
“Fine,” I said, my cheeks heating.
He lifted the thermos that was on the vacant dryer next to the one that had our sheets. He gently shook it. “You said you’d drink it.”
I snatched the thermos from him. “I will. Go. It’s girl time now.”
He cocked his head to the side and then sauntered toward the exit. The frazzled mother was currently at the machine that dispensed laundry detergent and pushed the button. Only the machine didn’t release the detergent. She pushed the button again and then began pounding on the side of it.
I watched Brooks say something to her. She stepped back. His hand slid up the side of the machine and then he hit it with his fist.
The detergent dropped down into the tray.
She beamed up at him in appreciation and he dipped his cowboy hat before leaving.
“Okay,” Salem said. “Full stop. I need coffee and pastries while we talk.”
“I’m not talking about any of this in public,” I said.
“It’s juicy, isn’t it?” Salem said with a grin.
I sighed. “Super juicy.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
The Car
“I want to know why you’re doing your laundry at the laundromat and not at the Ridge,” Salem said after we’d climbed into Hadley’s massive SUV.
“Don’t start the car,” I said.
“Why not?” Hadley asked.
“Because what I’m about to tell you might make you drive off the road in pure shock and I’ve already been in one ditch. I don’t need to wind up in another.”
“Ditch? What ditch?” Salem demanded.
Hadley took her hands off the keys and swiveled around to peer at me. “Okay, I’m listening.”
