Page 157 of Under Her Skin
“This first trip is yours to pick. I’ll pick the nextone.”
“Well, that does sound interesting. I think I’ll do that. Maybe a trip to the wine country or the mountains or thebeach.”
“Seems like you have some research to do as you are all over the place with your ideas there,honey.”
“Seems I do. I guess I’ll be fine looking up stuff while you do what it is you’re doing. What was it you are going to be busy with again?” I ask trying to get it out ofhim.
“Nope, I’m not about to tell you. You’ll know soon enough. Love you,kitten.”
“Kitten, huh? You and your little love names. Okay then, love you too,tiger.”
With a roar, he ends the call and I go to see how much wine I have in the house. Getting drunk and searching the internet for interesting places to go sounds like what’s about to fill myday.
Blake
The sun is setting, leaving perfect pinks and light oranges in the sky in my rear-view mirror. I flew my new chopper to Kip’s place and borrowed one of their cars and am about to surpriseRachelle.
It’s about the time she usually is ready to eat dinner so if she’s up to it and we can keep our hands off each other long enough, I’m going to take her out to eat somewhere nice then take her to a luxurious hotel overlooking theocean.
I set it all up last week and we’ll be staying not only the weekend in the hotel but the whole week there. She can go to school and work from there. I just need to be with her for real, not over the damnphone.
Her apartment comes into view and I’m getting all giddy and my insides are wiggly. I take a spot in the visitors parking area and notice that her car is here, but someone is pulling in behindit.
A tall man is getting out and carrying a white bag to her door. I wait and watch to see what happens next without taking a breath. I roll my window down so I can hearthem.
He knocks, the door opens, and he says, “Hey.”
Mother fucker! He has a Britishaccent!
He goes insideand the damn door closes. I grab my cell phone and call Rachelle. She answers the phone and I have to steady my voice as I want to scream and yell and punch somebody. That fucking guy to bespecific!
“What’s up?” I ask, a little more harshly than I meanto.
“Hey, baby,” she purrs into the phone. “Finally finished with your what the fuck ever it was you weredoing?”
“Yep, what are you up to?” I ask between clenched teeth, holding the steering wheel so tight I might actually pull it rightoff.
Her door opens, and the guy walks out then he looks over his shoulder. “Enjoy the meal, I’ll see you at work onMonday.”
She mutes the phone I can tell as I can hear her call out the door to him, but I can’t hear it over the phone. “See you Monday and thanks for bringing this over. I’ve had a bottle or two of wine and didn’t want todrive.”
“Always call me, Shelly. Never risk it,sweetie.”
Sweetie! Oh hellno!
“Hey, Rachelle. So what’s up?”I snap ather.
“Oh, sorry. I was just telling the delivery guy thanks. He brought my dinner. Oh shit!” she says and I see her door close and the guy drivesaway.
“Oh shit, what?” I ask as I get out of thecar.
She giggles. “Seems I gave the guy a bit of a peek at my goodies. I forgot I had on this little nightgown set to show you when we facetime. Hey, you wanna do that now? I can hang up and you can make the call,baby.”
“What do you mean he got a peek? What the hell are you wearing? And why the hell would you let him inside? Is that the Brit you went out with?” I ask as I walk up to herdoor.
“He is, but wait!” She goes silent then whispers, “How did you know he was British and I let him in?” I knock at her door. “Hold on a minute, Blake. Someone’s knocking at mydoor.”
She opens it without even looking through the peep hole. With the phone still to her ear she looks at me and her eyes seem a little droopy. I look behind her to see two empty wine bottles and another halfempty.
