Page 20 of Trial Run

“Okay.” Reggie suppressed the urge to ask her specifics. Brooke clearly knew her own car better than anyone else and would be insulted if she acted like she was the expert here. “What would you like to do?”

“I guess I better get an Uber home.”

“I know something cheaper than an Uber.” She pointed to her Jeep. “How about I give you a ride and we can figure out your car tomorrow. I bet Leroy has some extra parking vouchers sitting around that he can give you to keep you from racking up a big bill.” She watched Brooke glance furtively around as she struggled with whether to accept her offer.

“Thank you.”

“Not a problem.” Reggie held open the door and waited while Brooke gathered her things.

“You’re sure it’ll be safe here?”

“Yes. They have a night guard that patrols both garages. It’s as safe as anywhere in Dallas.”

A few minutes later, they were on their way to Brooke’s house. It wasn’t a flirty ice cream date, but Reggie was happy to have the time alone with her and suddenly cared a whole lot less about all the studying she had left to do.

Chapter Eight

“That’s me.” Brooke pointed at the apartment complex up ahead. “I really appreciate the ride. You can let me out here.” She practically hugged the door in her hurry to exit. The ride should’ve been a pleasant opportunity to get to know Reggie better, but she’d been too preoccupied with worry that the man from the garage or one of his cohorts would see her doing exactly what she’d been told not to do and take action.

“Are you sure? I can get you closer if you want.”

She did want and bailing out of the car a block away seemed rude, like she was trying to hide where she lived from Reggie. And now that she thought about it, she’d been given mixed messages by the mystery man. First, she wasn’t supposed to hang out with the other jurors and then she’d been told to sway them to a particular verdict and start laying the groundwork to make that happen. If she was confronted about what she was doing with Reggie, she could simply point out the inconsistency in her assigned mission. She pointed to the turn ahead. “You can pull in there and take the next left.”

Reggie followed her instructions and parked in the space reserved for her car. Brooke took her time gathering her things which included the textbooks she usually hauled around with her.“I appreciate the ride. What do you have planned tonight?” She hadn’t planned to ask that question, but now that she had, she desperately wanted to know.

“Nothing exciting. I have studying to do.”

“You’re in school?”

“Kind of. I’m studying for my private investigator licensing exam. It’s coming up soon and I’m not nearly ready.”

Brooke held up her marketing text. “Midterm next week. Not ready. At all.”

An awkward pause followed, and Brooke’s brain filled it with a repeating idea.Ask her to stay. Ask her to stay. Ask her to stay.Finally, she blurted out, “Do you want to stay for dinner? We could study after. It won’t be anything fancy, but—”

“I’d love to.” Reggie reached into the back seat and grabbed a bag. “I’m sick to death of takeout and I could use a different set of walls to stare at when I’m trying to come up with the answers to all the tricky test questions.”

Brooke smiled, partly because she was happy Reggie was staying and partly to mask her anxiety. The morning had been such a blur because she’d overslept, she wasn’t sure the house was presentable or that she even had any food in the fridge, but it was too late now. Reggie was already out of the car and waiting, so she hefted her books and climbed out.

They were almost to the door when she heard a voice call out her name and she turned to see Mr. Peterson walking toward her with an envelope in his hand. She plastered a smile on her face and prayed he wasn’t holding an eviction notice. “Hi, Mr. Peterson.”

He took a moment to look Reggie up and down before acknowledging her greeting. “Hi. This came for you.” He handed over the envelope. “It was delivered to the main office. I don’t have time to deliver stuff, so tell whoever sent it to use the mail like regular folks.” He cleared his throat and shot another look atReggie. “And I need you to come by and see me tomorrow about that other thing.”

“You bet. Happy to do it.” She knew her voice was overly enthusiastic and pitched a bit too high, but she was relieved he’d chosen not to bring up the past due rent and too busy willing him to leave to care that she sounded crazy. “See you tomorrow.” She waved to punctuate his exit before quickly opening the front door and motioning for Reggie to follow her in.

“Who was that guy?” Reggie asked.

“Landlord. He’s a little intense.”

“You can say that again.”

Brooke shrugged. “The bane of living in an apartment, I guess.” She led the way to the kitchen and set her books on the small table in the breakfast nook. “If you want, you can go ahead and get started studying while I sort out dinner.”

Reggie set her bag down, but instead of sitting, she joined her in the kitchen. “How about I help sort out dinner and then we can both study.”

Brooke’s breathing quickened at Reggie’s closeness and her thoughts turned from what to cook to how to cool the heat between them. Dinner and studying—that was the focus and anything else was completely off the table. She opened the refrigerator and stuck her head inside. “I confess I haven’t been to the store this week. I can make omelets or turkey sandwiches, and that’s about it.”

“I like omelets and turkey sandwiches,” Reggie said, managing to make both options sound like something way more exciting than a meal. “What does your son like?”

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