Page 64 of Kaine

I reach for the door and he blocks me.

“Wait,” he says, and pushes the door half open and steps through it, looking up and down the street. After a moment he opens the door wide for me and grabs me gently by the arm.

“Car,” he says and gestures with a tip of his head to Henry standing by the double-parked limo with the car door open. He guides me towards it and helps me slide into the seat before closing the door softly behind me. He slides in from the other side and waits for Henry to get in.

“Where to, Mr. Ashley?” he asks Kaine, who looks at me.

“Are you hungry, Jade?”

A rumble of my stomach reveals the traitorous nature of my stomach.

He tips his head back and laughs, and I want the sound to go on forever.

“That’s a yes from your stomach,” he chuckles, and I’m a little taken aback by his good mood.

“But I don’t want to cook. And I don’t want to do dishes,” I whine, laying my head back on the leather headrest.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got it covered,” he says, winking at me with his right eye, and a little tiny firecracker explodes in the pit of my stomach. This is ridiculous. I need to get this crush-like behavior under control.

“What do you mean?” I say, pushing down the urge to giggle like I’m 15 and he’s the star quarterback.

“You’ll see,” is all he gives me. And I know by now not to bother pressing him for more. “To my spot, please, Henry,” he leans forward and says to his driver.

“Right away, sir,” the driver says and I catch a little something in his voice. Amusement? Surprise?

The momentum of the car speeding into traffic pushes my whole body back and there’s a gentle vibration on the seat that starts to massage me.

“Ohhh,” I moan, feeling the tension ease from my shoulders and close my eyes, my hands loosening on my handbag strap as I feel it thump to the floor.

“Long day?” Kaine asks, a little dent in his forehead.

“Um, long,” I shrug, closing my eyes to enjoy the massage. “But good.”

“Oh?”

“Yes, I found a long-lost relative of a pillaging Viking.”

“Does she know where any of her ancestor’s gold is hidden?”

“Probably in your closet,” I tease him, and open one eye.

He’s grinning and he sits back, one hand hanging onto the grab-handle, the other picking at a piece of lint on his knee. I try to ignore the way his bicep bulges under his shirt.

“What about you?” I ask, realizing I know nothing about what he does for work. He’s mentioned going to work, but he obviously doesn’t need to.

“It was a great day,” he answers and there’s a happy tone in his voice I haven’t heard before.

“Oh, why?”

“Because I had something to look forward to, Jade,” he catches my eye as he says it, and the single firecracker in the pit of my stomach becomes the sky on the Fourth of July. I don’t know what’s happening, but I don’t think it’s happening to just me.

“Oh.”

We say nothing for the rest of the car ride.

***

I wasn’t born in NewYork state. I was born in Harrisonburg, Virginia. My childhood was filled with views of college buildings, woodland trails and forested mountains nearby. Not skyscrapers and engineering feats built to link one side of the Hudson with the other.