Page 20 of Redemption

“He suggested I take you for dinner, so I’m wondering if he has a date he doesn’t want you to know about,” I drawl out my reply.

Sloane lets out a smallhumphbefore giving me her first real smile since she caught sight of me. “I think he likes you.”

“Well, I’m a likeable guy,” I tell her, trying to keep a straight face. That only lasts a second before she lets out a laugh.

“I’m sure there are dozens of people who would disagree with that,” she sasses back, coming to a stop when we’re nearly toe-to-toe.

“I can live with that, as long as you aren’t one of them,” I reply with a shrug, enjoying the view when I blatantly look down at the view into her V-neck shirt, but stubbornly refusing to initiate physical contact with her. “But you have been a bit elusive lately, so I don’t want to push my luck.”

“I like you juuust fine,” she answers, leaning up to softly kiss my lips. “Where are we going for dinner?”

“Hop on and you’ll see,” I tell her, handing her a helmet. My saddlebags are stuffed, so I help her get her arm through the other strap of her backpack before she joins me on my hog.

Then we’re off, leaving town behind us as she snuggles into my back. I’d forgotten this feeling, the complete trust of a beautiful woman, the soft feel of her curves pressed against my body as I speed down the country roads I’ve long since memorized.

A half an hour later, I turn off onto an overgrown dirt path; it’s little more than a couple of tire ruts that lead the way down to a riverbend. I keep my ears open, expecting her to question where I’m taking her, but she just cranes her head up, taking in the area around us.

“It’s beautiful here,” she murmurs after I’ve set the kickstand and turned off the bike.

Helping her off, I stay in place for a moment, unsure if I made the right call bringing her here as memories of the other times I’ve spent in this spot wash over me.

“Do you want to go?” she quietly asks me after a few moments and I shake my head, finally ready to make new memories.

“No, sorry,” I whisper, picking up her delicate hand with chipped nail polish and placing a kiss in her palm before I turn to my saddlebags. “Here, take the blanket and find us a spot. I’ve got sandwiches.”

With my hands and pockets full, I turn to see her spreading the blue blanket out near a fallen log.

“I didn’t take you for a picnic kind of guy,” she says as I kneel beside her and release everything into a pile between us.

“I had enough of people today, so this seemed like the best option for dinner,” I tell her, pulling the flask out of the inner pocket of my cut to toss that into the pile also.

“That’s possibly the sweetest thing you’ve said to me,” she answers with a laugh, before reaching for the flask. Unscrewing it, she holds it to her nose for a whiff before taking a small sip—next she’s got her eyes squeezed together as she waves her hand in the air. “Ugh.”

“It’ll grow on ya,” I reply with a laugh as I reach for it, hoping she doesn’t spill my homemade whiskey as she struggles to breathe. “Hopefully, I will too.”

“I like you, Andrew,” she softly confesses as she scoots closer to me, intertwining our hands. “A lot.”

“But?” I push her, wanting to know where I stand.

Instead of answering me, she reaches one hand over to pick up one of the subs I had gotten us. Pulling her other hand from mine, she unwraps it to investigate the contents.

“Roast beef is mine,” I growl, shooting her a wink as I yank it away from her. “Got you turkey with bacon.”

We take our first few bites in silence, and I’m once again determined to wait her out.

“Pops didn’t need me to move here to help him,” she finally whispers, more to herself than to me. “I finally realized it that day you had us out to the party, but I haven’t wanted to admit that so I don’t feel like a coward.”

I nod, having already seen the man with a tool set and out driving around. Paul didn’t seem like he was incapacitated in any way.

“After Billy’s death, I just felt like I was suffocating. Beau and Austin being around helped for a couple of weeks, but after they went back out on the rig, I packed and drove up here. Dad and Mom went to church, and I just left them a note. I couldn’t even face them to say goodbye.” Tears are flowing down Sloane’s cheeks as she tells me how she left home.

Her sandwich falls to the side as she covers her face in an effort to hold back her sobs and I reach over, pulling her onto my lap. Idon’t know much about Billy, or any struggles he had before the explosion, but I have an inkling of the pain he experienced in the aftermath, and I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy.

Even if I knew what to say to her, I couldn’t get the words out right now as it occurs to me that, years ago, I caused this kind of pain to another woman.

Like Billy, I was too wrapped up in my own trauma to consider those who would have eased my way back into the life I knew.

The longer I sit with her in my arms, I finally realize that she doesn’t need me to say anything. Knowing her grandfather a bit, I’m sure nothing I could come up with would be anything that her parents or brothers haven’t said before anyway.

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