Page 69 of Enforcing the Rules

“It takes guts. I know.” She bumped my shoulder again. “Be brave.”

“How do I do that? Men don’t talk about every damn thing we feel or think like women do. I don’t even know how to start.”

“You open your mouth and start at the beginning. The words will come.”

“Easy for you to say.”

She reached over and squeezed my forearm. “Just give it a try.”

I remained silent.

“Utah, you wouldn’t ask me to explain what it means to be an ol’ lady if you weren’t serious about this girl. If she’s the one, you have to give it a shot.”

I nodded. “I suppose you’re right. Thanks, Lola.” I turned to hug her.

“Hey, get your hands off my woman!” Memphis yelled across the bar.

I lifted my hands in the air. “Yes, sir.”

Rain pattered against the windows, and Memphis dipped his head. “Damn it. There goes that ride we planned on, babe.”

I looked over at Lola. “That your pickup I saw parked next to Memphis’s bike?”

“It is.”

“Can I borrow it for an hour?”

She grinned. “You have sex in that truck, Memphis will beat your ass.”

“I won’t tell him if you don’t.”

She tossed me the keys. “Good luck.”

I kissed her cheek. “Love you, girl.”

An hour later, Kate and I pulled to the window of the Starbucks, and I handed Kate her Iced Mocha Frappuccino and took my iced coffee.

When I didn’t pull over but continued out of the lot and in the opposite direction of the clubhouse—my place and her place—Kate looked at me. “Where are we going?”

“Something I want to show you.” The wipers slowly slapped across the windshield. The rain had dwindled to a drizzle. I drove us to the bluff that overlooked the Crestview neighborhood and parked. By the time we got up there, the rain had stopped and the sun had come out.

Kate frowned, then a slow grin formed across her face. “Are we here to neck or something?”

“Maybe later.” My stomach was in knots, but I took a breath and remembered Lola’s words. Start at the beginning. Just start talking and the words will come. I glanced down into the neighborhood. “See that blue house?”

She craned to look. “Yes.”

Before I could explain, the garage door rolled up. A moment later Gregg walked out, followed by Mia, pushing a new bike.

“Do you know those people?” Kate asked.

We sat and watched as a father taught his little girl to ride a two-wheeler.

My eyes glazed, thinking how that should have been me with my hand on her seat, running alongside her as the bike wobbled down the sidewalk.

Kate lay her hand on my thigh and said softly, “Hey. Are you okay?”

I met her eyes with my watery ones, n ot trying to hide them. I was as vulnerable as I could get.

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