Page 69 of Love You
“Please do.” The suit she had on looked constrictive and. . . ugly. He preferred her in the floral sundresses she wore or jeans. “I’ll wait in the Jeep.”
“I’d invite you in but my mother already thinks you’re crazy. And the last thing I need is for you to make up a story that we’re expecting.” As soon as the words left her mouth, Win could tell she wished she hadn’t said it. “Oh gosh, Win, I’m sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it. I shouldn’t have told your mom we were married just like Britney shouldn’t have told me she was pregnant with my child.”
“It’s different,” she said. “You didn’t hurt anyone, you were just goofing around. Give me five minutes.”
He waited in the Jeep, playing Scrabble on his cell phone. Oddly enough, it was one of the board games he and his therapist used to play to help with his dyslexia. Being naturally competitive, it had been a good way to engage him. To this day, it was still difficult for him to make sense of certain words or stay focused on a task. That’s why it had always been easier for him to be out in the field, instead of doing the administrative work, like TJ.
“I can’t be gone too long.” Darcy hopped in the passenger seat.
“All right. Where do you want to go?”
“I don’t know. It was your idea to go for a drive.”
He took off with no destination in mind, winding up not far from Reggie’s cabin, on the river. He pulled into a viewpoint and shut off the engine. It was dark but there was a full moon and he could see light coming off the water. He had the Jeep’s top down and could hear an owl in the distance and smell pine from the surrounding forest.
“Is this where you take girls to make out?” Darcy pulled her sweater tighter.
“Why? You didn’t get enough of me yesterday and want more?” He put the top back up. “You want me to turn on the heat, too?”
“This is fine.”
The women he usually hung out with liked the top down, the doors off, and the music loud. Darcy wasn’t anything like them, yet he preferred her company. Lord knew why with that smart mouth of hers.
“Your mom okay with you leaving?” It seemed like a silly question to ask a grown woman but under the circumstances maybe Geneva needed Darcy around.
“She was in bed when I left.”
“It’s not even nine.”
“I think she took sleeping pills. Either that or she could no longer stand Nana’s and my company.”
“Shocking,” Win said, and Darcy socked him in the arm. “Who’s the other woman, do you know her?”
“Apparently, his receptionist. There have been so many, I’ve lost track.”
“Of receptionists or women with whom he’s had affairs?”
“Receptionists,” Darcy said. “As far as I know this is his first affair but the daughter is always the last to know. According to my mother, she’s short, fat, and not terribly attractive.”
“Maybe she’s a nice person.”
She looked at him strangely. “Are you saying my mother isn’t?” And then she laughed.
“I didn’t like the way she talked to you. But I met her for all of what, fifteen minutes? I’m sure she’s got her strengths.”
“She’s beautiful,” Darcy said wistfully.
“You look a lot like her.” He held her gaze.
“We have the same blue eyes and that’s about it.”
He didn’t say anything because frankly it was a little creepy comparing a woman you’d slept with to her mother. Sort of a Mrs. Robinson situation. “You think maybe we should talk about yesterday?”
“What about it?”
So she was going to play coy. He didn’t respond, leaving her dangling in silence. Win could wait her out.
