“One sec.” My sister hissed something at one of her kids, then came back. “Hey, what’s up?”
“Just wanted to check in.” I stared through my windshield, the sun highlighting how overdue my car was for a wash.
Hope laughed. “Sure. Still not made any friends in that big city of yours?”
She knew the answer to that. It wasn’t that I hadn’t tried; it was that I was either working or with Miles. Come to think of it, Miles didn’t hang out with the few friends he’d mentioned having either. And my colleagues, as nice as some of them were, were mostly over thirty. Our lives were at different stages, we had little in common, and I was still the new chick on the block.
“I wanted to ask you something.”
“Okay,” Hope said. “So ask.”
“Has Jace ever lied to you?”
“Sure, I guess.” Hope was quiet a minute, the sound of my nephews laughing over something in the background reaching my ear. “But I’m guessing this isn’t a ‘no, I didn’t leave the toilet seat up or feed the dog your leftover cereal which in turn gave him diarrhea’ kind of lie?”
My nose crinkled. “He gives Ziggy your cereal? Dogs can’t have dairy.”
“Right? That’s what I said. Anyway, what happened?”
I watched as the last staff members drove away, leaving only the principal’s and janitors’ cars in the lot with mine, and a sleek black Bentley. My tongue trapped and glued to the back of my teeth, the words I needed to say to answer her question wouldn’t budge.
Yes, I was pretty certain Miles had two phones, but no, I still hadn’t broached that fact with him. Maybe it was for work, but I’d never seen it before.
And the car … it was probably just someone driving down the street. The timing of it is what shook me.
I knew I’d sound paranoid. The first thing Hope would say would be to speak to Miles. I needed to, but I couldn’t find the words or the right timing. He’d been so busy with work that when he’d get home, he’d eat, shower, fuck me senseless, and then pass out only to repeat it all over again the next day.
Letting out a shaky exhale, I said, “Don’t worry, I think I’m due for my period maybe.”
Hope asked, “You sure? You can talk to me, you know. God knows how many secrets you kept for me growing up.”
“I know.” I smiled, saying the words. “It’s fine, though, really.”
Hope sighed. “Okay, but if you feel like this again anytime soon, call me. I mean it.”
“Will do. Tell the boys I said hello.”
“Come visit and tell them yourself.”
I laughed, feeling nostalgic for just that, then hung up and slumped back in my seat, closing my eyes.
I startled at the sound of light tapping next to my head and straightened up, taking in my surroundings. Lou Lou’s dad was standing stock-still outside my car, and I quickly glanced at my dash, noting it was almost five. I must’ve dozed a few minutes.
Thomas stepped back when I opened the door. “Do you often fall asleep behind the wheel?”
“I wasn’t driving,” I volleyed, closing the door and folding my arms over my chest. I looked around, finding no sign of Lou Lou. “Where’s Lou Lou?”
“At home. I had a meeting with Mrs. Crawley.”
Trying not to let that rattle me, I nodded. “Everything okay?”
He picked a non-existent piece of lint from his black suit sleeve. “She’ll be moving Jerimiah to a different class if he keeps bothering Lou.”
A part of me was relieved he didn’t rat me out in any way, yet I was still kind of pissed on Jerimiah’s behalf. “That’s not exactly fair. He really is a good kid.”
“A good kid with terrible outbursts, I’m sure.” He retrieved a set of keys from his trouser pocket. “Are you going to answer my question?”
Still reeling from his last statement about Jerimiah, it took me a beat to catch up. “Huh?”
His face crumpled with clear distaste. “I think you meant to say excuse me.”
I couldn’t help it, and a laugh escaped.
His lips twitched, but otherwise, he waited for me to gather some self-control. “Uh, well, I don’t believe you asked a question I haven’t answered, Dr. Verrone.”
“Thomas.” He tilted his head, eyeing my well-loved Corolla before pinning those freezing blues on my face. “And I believe I was enquiring about why you were sleeping in your car two hours after the children have left.” He paused. “You have a home, do you not?”
Who was this guy?
And more importantly, why was I still entertaining him by standing there?
I was too frazzled to answer that, but I did know that, weird guy or not, I wasn’t rude. And the parents here paid a lot of money for their children to attend. I’d have my ass kicked back home if I didn’t watch my attitude and play nice.
“I was on the phone,” I finally relented. “Then I guess I lost track of time.”
Thomas stared, his eyes piercing my browns as though he was trying to look inside my thoughts to find the truth. “You don’t talk on the phone when driving.” He shifted, and I glanced down at his expensive looking shoes. “Good.”
Smiling a little, I looked at him once more, taking in the clean-shaven lines of his strong jaw, the lightly tanned skin molded over stark cheekbones, and the thick dark brows that matched his perfectly combed over hair. Pulling a pocket watch out of his jacket, he inspected it, and it was then I noticed he was without his hat.
“Where’s the fedora today?”
He tucked the watch away. “It’s Thursday. Too many things to do on a Thursday.”
“I see, and it’d probably wreck what you have going on”—I gestured with a wave to his perfect hair—“up there.”
A wrinkle of confusion appeared between his thick brows, and he puckered his full lips as he stared at me. “Going on?”
“Your hair,” I said, feeling my cheeks heat. “It’s, um, nice is what I meant to say.”
“You went to college?”
His hard words had me stepping back into my car. “I did, yes.”
“Yet you like to abuse the English language.”
I forced a mock gasp, and he tilted his head again, eyes inquisitive.
“I’m kind of offended. Words are my drug of choice.”
“Drug of choice,” he murmured as if tasting the words to see if he liked them.
“Are you foreign?” I asked. He didn’t have an accent, but curiosity over his distaste for common slang got the better of me.
“Absolutely not,” he said so quickly I almost laughed.
Lifting my hands, I relented. “Yeesh, just asking.”
“You’re a peculiar woman, Little Dove.”
The threat of nightfall had painted the sky orange, pink, and blue. The combination was so striking behind the enigmatic man that I wished I had a camera handy to capture what I saw in front of me.
“As are you.” I quickly amended, “Though not a woman, clearly.”
He smiled. He actually smiled, and the sight was enough to have my bottom lip disconnecting from the top, my mouth agape and heartbeat skipping.
His teeth were perfect, every single one of them, and a glowing white. But it was how his eyes changed from ice to lukewarm pools of water that seized me, imprinting on my retinas.
“You look like you’ve been kicked in the stomach,” he commented, his smile slipping away as fast as it’d appeared.
I shook my head, unable to muster conversation with this fascinating stranger anymore. It was bound to get awkward again, so I chose to bail on a good note.
“I like your pocket watch,” I told him, then climbed back inside my car. “My grandpa had one just like it.” I winked as I closed the door and started the engine. Once I’d backed out, I told myself not to look in the rearview.
Naturally, I did.
He was still standing there, statue still, his blue eyes watching as I sped out of the lot.