“I have my shower cap on. Can’t hear you!”
Thank goodness for that.
“What time should I show up tonight?” I ask.
Nash smiles slowly. “Oh, no. I’ll come pick you up. Will you be here at six?”
“Let me check my social calendar.” I take a long sip of the water. “Oops. What do you know? It’s all clear.”
Nash shakes his head, but I can see him fighting a smile.
“In that case, do you want to come with me now? I have a couple of errands to run, but then we could headstraight to Grandpa’s. I’m not sure if the rest of the family will be there tonight or not. We’ve managed to avoid them until now, but our luck might not hold. Grandpa invited everyone for dinner.”
I run a hand through my sweaty hair. “Let me charm them with my looks.”
Nash shakes his head. “There’s no charming some of them unless you have piles of money.”
“Pennies don’t count, do they?”
Nash throws back his head and laughs. “You know what? I think Grandpa is right. You’re exactly what this family needs.”
I follow Nash down the stairs in my apartment building. There’s no such thing as a lobby in this building, just a narrow hallway and a glass front door. He holds it open for me, and I step out onto the sidewalk, blinking in the bright sunlight for a moment. All three of the usual men are standing in front of their bikes twenty feet down the sidewalk. I open my mouth to call hello, but jump in surprise as Nash rests his hand on mine and maneuvers me to the side, keeping himself between me and all three of them.
We don’t do our usual chitchat. They’re too busy staring down Nash, and he seems to be doing the same. He tightens his hand around mine, gives me two quick squeezes, and ushers me down the sidewalk. He glances over his shoulder one more time before we turn the corner, onto the side street.
He parked his car behind mine and quickly unlocks it.He opens the passenger door for me, then hurries to the driver’s side and climbs in.
“Do those guys hang around your building often?” he asks as he starts up the car.
“Yeah, they do. Pretty frequently.”
He presses his lips into a firm line and shakes his head but doesn’t say anything. There’s no music playing as he starts forward.
I break the silence. “So, what errands do you need to run?”
“Oh, I need something from the office, and then I was gonna grab Grandpa’s favorite kind of soda from the store.”
My stomach drops at the thought of stopping by his office. But what are the odds that I’d see my former boss? That would require being on the same floor as her.
I reach for the display and turn it to a top hits station.
It’s a smooth, quick ride to the building. He parks in the front lot again, like he owns the place. I wish I had an ounce of his confidence. I guess it is a little strange that he’s in maintenance when his grandfather is obviously a multimillionaire. But everybody needs to find a job they like.
Although he did say infrastructure, so maybe he’s into some kind of construction and I just made assumptions.
He climbs out of the car and walks around to my side, opening the door.
“You don’t want me to just wait right here?” I ask.
“No. I’d worry about you in the parking lot by yourself.”
“This is a nice, safe area of town.”
He shakes his head and holds out his hand. He winsthe staring contest, and when I put my hand in his, he pulls me out of the car, closing the door and locking it behind me.
“I’m driving you, so that makes me responsible for you. I wouldn’t leave my child out in the car, so I’m not gonna leave you in it either.”
“I’m not sure how I feel about being compared to a child,” I say as I follow him toward the building entrance.
