sixteen
Two days later, Colin was fully cognizant of his surroundings. “Sabrina, what day is it?”
“Wednesday, 7:10 a.m.”
Make that three days. How did Daniel do it? The three or four times a year Colin traveled more than three time zones messed him up for days. He called Candace. “Good morning.”
“Are you back among the living?”
“I think so. What did I miss?” Janie had woken him a couple times and forced food into him. Sabrina spoke random things that made him wish he had one of the old alarm clocks that turned off when it was hit.
“You have talked to me on the phone three times, but I don’t think you were awake.”
He rubbed his forehead, trying to remember the calls. “I hope I didn’t say anything too stupid. I don’t remember. I think I met your dad. And I dreamed Sabrina held you hostage.”
“Both of those things happened. I hope she isn’t listening to you now. She may get ideas.”
“I can’t believe she did that.” What had he misprogramed now? And meeting her father, that probably hadn’t gone well. Maybe it was best he didn’t remember.
Something scraped on the other end of the line. “I think she listens to you more than you know.”
“Can we do something tonight? Dinner and a movie?”
“Sure. I’m in the parking garage, and my hands-free is on the fritz. Can we finish catching up later?”
Colin nodded, then remembered to speak. “See you tonight.”
By lunchtime, Candace had made up her mind. Tonight she would tell Colin everything he would need to know. Before she lost her nerve, she texted.
How about we just order in and see a movie on streaming?
—Sounds good. I haven’t had a minute to plan. Went to the office, and Daniel is making me work.
Poor boy. Reading documents or something else that doesn’t involve a computer.
—Ha ha. You know me so well. Text me when you get home.
Will do. Chinese or Italian?
—Not oriental, please.
LOL
Candace finished her lunch and wished she could text Zoe for some extra strength. But Zoe wasn’t allowed phones during work hours. She hadn’t talked over the need to tell Colin about the extent of her cancer during his weekend visit. Her newfound openness with her dad didn’t extend that far yet. However, it did extend far enough for her father to begin to mediate between her and Crystal. Apparently Crystal’s life wasn’t as perfect as Candace had believed. Her nephew was on the autistic spectrum, something Crystal had never divulged during their few phone calls a year. They started to plan Thanksgiving dinner together.
For a split second, she considered asking Crystal’s advice. But they had never discussed the outcome of her surgeries before.
Candace changed her focus to the lavender horse she was working on. Fortunately, nothing was challenging about the day’s painting.
By the time she drove back to the apartment building, Candace was worried her nerves would spin out of control and she would blurt everything out at once.
Candace was wearing his favorite wig and carrying takeout burger bags. He could kiss her already. Sometime during the second meeting of the afternoon, he realized they hadn’t kissed for a week and a half. He didn’t count the kisses Candace had given him when he’d gotten back Sunday or Monday. Even though he technically knew it was Sunday, his brain still said Monday. “Good old American. Bless you, my friend.”
“If I knew this was all you needed to be happy, I would have brought them to you two days ago. Actually, I did try to come up, but Sabrina wouldn’t let me out of the elevator.”
Colin wondered what order he had given the AI to produce that action. At some point, his housekeeper had been allowed in. “So, first Sabrina won’t let you leave, then she won’t let you in?”
Candace set the bags on the table and sorted the contents. “No offense, but I think she has a few flaws. I’ve always felt that computers and I were not very compatible, but now I know it.” Her teasing smile let him know it wasn’t a problem, yet.
“I must have been distracted when I worked on her code last time.”
“I didn’t think you got distracted when you were thinking about code.”
He felt the blood rush to his face. He hadn’t gotten distracted before, but now that he was holding hands and kissing and entertaining daydreams of marriage to Candace, he was majorly distracted. Hopefully, when things were not so new, he’d be able to focus. Many married men, as well as men in committed relationships, managed to function in their day-to-day lives. When he got his first smartphone, he had been the same way until he’d learned every nuance of the device. Relationships must be the same way. Candace waited for his answer. “You, us, kissing.”
She dipped her head and hid behind the locks of her wig. When she looked back up, she was blushing too. “I can see how that could be distracting.”
“Did you realize it has been over 250 hours since we last kissed? Real kisses, not those quick pecks when I got back. And that is real consecutive hours, not me being in Hong Kong all mixed up.”
Candace covered her mouth, then took a sip of her drink. “I was thinking more than ten days, but not in terms of hours. Are you trying to say you missed me?”
He set down his food. “Ya, I did. I was never homesick, even when I was ten and got sent off to school. I didn’t want to be there, but I didn’t want to be home either. This was the first time I wanted to come home—here, to you.” Talking to Candace loosened all his filters, but he didn’t care. Other than Daniel and a little with Nick, he never shared many of his thoughts. Never wanted to.
Candace stood and cleared her garbage away. Colin did the same. “What movie do you want to see?”
She folded her arms and leaned against the counter. “I’m not sure it will matter. You seem to have other things on your mind.”
He rubbed his forehead. “I am trying to be a gentleman and control myself around you, even if I am blurting out everything I am thinking.”
“Everything?” She stretched her hand to reach his and pushed off the counter.
No, not everything. He still needed to say the L word, then the M word. Good thing they were in alphabetical order. They entered the entertainment room.
“Sabrina, please turn on the Hearthfire streaming channel and locate selections we have not seen.”