“It’s like I said, I needed the night off,” Mathew said quietly as he leaned against his car and waited for River to come back out of her apartment.
“Yeah, yeah. I heard that part, but… and I can’t emphasize this enough… Blink twice if you’ve been kidnapped.”
He might have laughed at Aiden’s antics if he wasn’t so concerned about River. “You can’t see if I’m blinking through the phone.”
“Oh,right. Okay, so what’s your safe word? Say that and I’ll call the cops.”
Mathew rolled his eyes as he pushed off his car and started pacing. “It’s just a night off.”
“You’ve never taken time off unless it was an emergency. If I remember correctly, we even had to threaten you with calling security when you refused to stop working in the days after your dad passed.” At least this time Aiden sounded more concerned than teasing. “And this isn’t an emergency?”
Technically, it was. Though not the same way Aiden probably thought. River didn’t need Mathew’s presence. He was certain she would have handled everything on her own if he hadn’t been there to witness the phone call. But he didn’t want her to. Clearly when it came to River, there was more than met the eye.
He had a feeling she wasn’t used to accepting help of any kind, and the fact that she’d allowed his presence for this crisis said something.
Mathew cleared his throat. “No, not an emergency.”
“Umm, your hesitancy says something else.”
“It’s not an emergency. And it’s none of your business. I don’t know why you even bothered asking because you’re not my supervisor.” The second his sharp retort escaped his throat, Mathew flinched. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it like it sounded.”
There was an edge to Aiden’s voice despite the words he spoke next. “Don’t worry about it. I shouldn’t have pushed so hard. Sometimes I forget that you need your privacy.” He didn’t have to say the words aloud for Mathew to hear what he wasn’t saying.I just wanted to make sure you are okay.
That was who Aiden was.
A good friend.
Blowing out a hard breath, Mathew nodded. “Thanks for checking in with me. I know I can always count on you.” That was why he could tell his friend everything. Well, almost everything.
“Always, man.”
Mathew hung up and stood there quietly for several moments. No one was as surprised as he was about what he’d just done. He contemplated calling Aiden again and telling him to forget it. But before he did, River came outside. He shoved his phone in his pocket and opened the door for River to climb inside. Then he rounded the car but paused when his phone vibrated in his pocket twice in quick succession.
He tugged it free and found two messages.
Penny:Seriously! Jason just texted me. A day off?
Jason:Sheesh, man, Aiden said it wasn’t an emergency, but dude, WTH!
Okay,maybe it was a good thing Mathew hadn’t told Aiden everything. If his siblings knew he was taking his first day off work in years for a girl, they’d assume there was something more brewing with River.
And nothing was brewing with River.
Even if he was tempted to turn that nothing into something.
He chose to ignore the messages and turn his phone to silent before climbing behind the wheel. River met his eyes with a nervous smile, “Thanks for tagging along.”
“Is it tagging along if I’m driving?” He chuckled as he started the engine.
“I guess you’re right.” She pushed her hands beneath her thighs. “Well, thanks for taking me. I really didn’t want to do this alone.”
“What are friends for?”
“That will be eighteen forty-seven.”
“Wait a minute, I was told it was fifteen hundred.”
The stress in River’s voice pulled at something in Mathew’s chest. He pushed off the wall to walk toward her.
