Page 135 of The Girlfriend Card
I steadied her face with my hand and leaned in, our lips melting together with a sweltering kiss.
“I’ll miss making you breakfast, too,” I said.
“I’llmiss your breakfast, too.” She smiled, a touch of sadness in her eyes. “But we’ll figure it out, right?”
“Definitely,” I said, nodding my head with conviction. “Long distance sucks. But it’s not forever. Really, we’ll only be apart for a few more months.”
“And you’ll come up to see me, right?”
“For sure! I’ll be coming up there to harass youconstantly,” I teased.
“Is that a promise?” she countered, a sparkle in her eye.
“God, I love you,” I said.
“I love you, too.”
The sudden sound of silence came as a relief. The hold music blaring on her cell phone speaker had finally ceased, and a ticket agent answered, his voice urgent and his words running together. “Hello, thank you for waiting, how can I help you today?”
Ottavia stirred to get out of my lap and lunged off the couch to reach for the phone.
“Hello?” The agent sounded impatient and increasingly annoyed that she hadn’t instantly responded. “Hello??”
Ottavia finally snatched up her phone. “Hi there! Yes, I’ve got a flight and seven, and I’m hoping to—”
“Hello???” The agent spoke over Ottavia. “Are you there???”
“Oh shoot! It’s still on mute!” Ottavia quickly fumbled with her phone to unmute it, but it was too late—the agent hung up on her and moved on. Ottavia sighed. “Great.Now there’s no way I’ll get my flight switched.”
I grimaced. I mean, yeah, I wanted to keep her with me as long as I could … but not likethis.
“I swear, flying is such a pain,” she said. “And I don’t evenlikeflying. I’d much rather drive.”
I paused, realizing the solution was in front of us all along. “Why don’t you, then?”
“Like take an Uber, you mean?” she asked.
I chuckled. “No, I meanyoudrive.”
“I don’t have a car, Dakota.”
“I’m saying, why don’t you take the Mercedes? You drove it all summer.”
“I can’t take your car with me to school!”
“Why not?” I asked with a shrug.
“Because it’syourcar.”
“The Merc was my winter car, but I don’t need a winter car in Las Vegas. I’m fine driving the Porsche all year.” I paused, my brow furrowing. “In fact … don’t I still owe you thirty grand? For playing Jane?”
She snickered and rolled her eyes. “Becausethatwent so well.”
“I’d say itdidgo well.” I grabbed her hand and held it in mine. “Really, really well, in fact. Because now I’ve got you.”
“Aw, Dakota! You’re such a sweetie,anda cheeseball, all at the same time.”
I grinned. “The point is, I told you I’d pay you, but I never did. That ain’t right. I believe a man’s debtsgottabe settled.” Igot up, fetched the Mercedes keys, and held them out to Ottavia. “I want you to have the car, okay?”
