Page 49 of Perfectly Imperfect Us
“Maybe you should go home and get a snack or something. You know, to fire up those brain cells.” Kadee winked at me.
This whole thing was bizarre. “Okay…” I didn’t have a better idea, so I went with her suggestion. Ryder had probably spilled the whole plan to her anyway. I gave her another hug and hopped back in the Porsche to drive home, pulling up at the curb behind my beast of a truck.
“Something old and blue!” I shouted to myself, the lightbulb going off.
Ol’ Tucker was most certainly old and the paint flaking off the side of her was a vintage baby blue. I hopped out of Ryder’s car and yanked open the driver’s side door to the truck. A loud groan of metal on metal greeted me, but no card lay on the seat. I hopped in and looked up on the dash. Nothing. I bent over and felt underneath my seat and the passenger seat. Nada. I frowned.
Then I leaned over and popped open the glove box, a white card slipping out onto the floorboards.
“Yes!” I exclaimed.
Picking it up, I flipped it open and read the next clue.
When love develops, you can’t keep it locked away in a box.
The morning sun was turning hot already and I couldn’t stay in my hot truck. I grabbed the card and headed into my house to think on this next clue while I grabbed some water.
“Hey, honey,” my mom called as I entered the kitchen. She had green goop all over her face and still rocked pajamas.
“Day off?” I ventured.
She bared her teeth, the best she could do for a smile while cement was on her face. “You know it. Whatcha up to today, kiddo? And where’s Ryder?”
I thrust the three cards at her. “He made me a scavenger hunt!”
She read through them and nearly melted into the floor. “That’s so sweet! Your father never did something like that. I might have to have a word with him when he gets home from work.”
I snorted. Great, Dad would love that. Getting shown up by Ryder in the romance department. They’d become pals over the last year of us dating.
“I have to figure out this clue though. What do you think it means?” I frowned, reading the clue again.
Mom grabbed the coffee pot, twirling around dangerously like she had an idea. “He’s a photographer, right? Is that what he means by ‘develop’?”
I read it again with that idea in mind and instantly had my location. “I got it!” I grabbed my mom in a hug, nearly spilling hot coffee all over us, and ran out the door.
I didn’t have to go far, just next door to Ryder’s house. I went through the side gate and hit the she-shed he’d turned into a dark room. I threw open the door, careful to prop it open with a brick so it wouldn’t lock me inside like the day he’d first kissed me.
Right there on the table was the clay box he’d made at the art place in Carmel-by-the-Sea on our first official date. I carefully opened the lid and found another white card tucked inside. Snatching it up, I read it out loud.
“You bared your skin and I bared my heart. We didn’t cross that imaginary line, but I fell in love with you anyway. Pack an overnight bag and meet me by the sea.”
I squealed, twirling in a circle in the dusty she-shed. I had a date waiting for me at the hotel in Carmel.
* * *
I pulled the Porsche up to the valet—I loved Ol’ Tucker, but dang, she wasn’t a good choice in this summer heat—and hopped out. Ryder stood by the door to the bed-and-breakfast, a bouquet of bright pink roses in his hands.
My heels forced me to walk slowly when all I wanted was to sprint over to him, wrap him in my arms, and never let go. The long flowing dress I bought last week had come in handy for this surprise date. I’d only bought it because it matched the blue-green eyes I loved to stare into.
When I got close enough, he slid an arm around my waist and pulled me in close.
“You found me,” he whispered.
“I always will,” I whispered back.
He handed me the roses and I buried my nose in them. He laced our fingers together and walked us to our room, the very same room we’d stayed in on our first date.
“This is incredibly romantic, Mr. Steele,” I teased him, loving the thought that had gone into our date. “What’s the occasion? I don’t think it’s my birthday or our dating anniversary.”
