Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 60905 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 305(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60905 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 305(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
I laughed and pinched him on the ass before letting him go.
As we walked back to my apartment from the diner, we made plans. “I’d like some time to pack some more clothes.”
“Of course,” Brady said. “Pack anything you’d like. This time, we won’t be searching your luggage.” But then he paused. “Except I have to head back soon because I have a shift at the diner. I almost forgot.”
“It’s not a problem. I can drive back with you and Gideon can bring Lila when she’s ready.”
I turned to Gideon. “Is that okay?” It was a good thing we’d brought two cars.
He nodded. “If you’re not in too much of a hurry to return to the world’s smallest shower stalls, maybe we can swing by my place so that I can pick up some clothes, too.”
“Sure. I’d like to see your place.”
“Then it’s all settled then.” Cole looked at his watch. “Should we get going?”
“Guess so,” Brady said.
I reached out and hooked my index finger through one of the belt loops on Brady’s jeans. Then I did the same to Cole. “Are you sure you can’t stay just a little longer?”
Cole grinned. “Maybe just a little.”
Gideon’s house was a bit of a surprise. It was a nice, normal, fairly modern looking two story home. And it was in a nice, normal subdivision. It was about as different from the inn as you could get. But it wasn’t quite as modern or as sleek as my place. I grinned when I realized that it was probably the perfect mid-point between my place at the inn, both in terms of distance and style.
“What are you smiling at?” Gideon asked, but he was grinning, too.
“It’s just fun seeing where you live.”
“If you say so.” His tone was lighter than his words.
“Mind if I poke around?”
“Poke away,” he said. “I’ve just got to grab a few things upstairs.” He strode to the stairs and then stopped, looking back at me with an evil grin. “Do you need anything for your stay at the inn? I’ve got an impressive array of whips, chains, and ropes.”
I grinned, waiving him off. “Go pack or we won’t make it to the inn before dark.”
While he was upstairs, I looked around, starting with the kitchen. The appliances seemed new. The gleaming stainless steel reminded me of the stuff in my kitchen. I had the feeling Brady would love this place.
I opened a door off the kitchen and found a pantry, which wasn’t of interest to me. Another door led to the laundry room. The washer and dryer looked brand new, and I started envisioning ways we could get him to swap Brady and Cole for the ancient ones in the basement of the inn.
Another door led off the laundry room, and I opened it, curious about what it could be.
The smell of oil hit my nose immediately, but instead of cringing back, I stopped. There was something very familiar about that smell. I groped along the wall for a light and then I stepped into the dimly lit garage. One side of it was empty, but the other side held a car. Not the SUV Gideon had used to drive us here. This was an old car. A muscle car.
I took a few halting steps toward it and then I stopped dead.
“Lila? Lila! There you are. I’ve been looking for you for the last five minutes. What are you doing—” He trailed off when he saw what I was looking at. “Do you like it? It’s a—"
“It’s a 1973 Ford Gran Torino.”
“Yeah, how’d you know that?”
I turned to face him. “That’s my father’s car.”
Something shifted behind his eyes. “Your dad had a car like that? Did he—”
I stepped closer, staring him right in the eyes. “That’s my father’s car. Not one like it. It’s his car. Mind telling me what it’s doing here?”
Gideon swallowed hard but didn’t say anything. At least he was no longer denying what I knew to be true. I stared at him, trying to make sense of something that seemed impossible.
I looked deep into his eyes as if trying to see through to the back of his head, and then suddenly I knew.
Taking a step back, I suddenly felt faint. “It was you.”
He said nothing.
“That’s why you looked familiar. And why you were in that dream. You’re that kid who was always out in our garage helping him. The kid who followed him around like a puppy. It was you.”
Still, he said nothing, but I didn’t need him to. My heart raced, but my mind was steady. It was him. I hadn’t recognized him because he’d changed so much. That teen was scrawny and skinny. He’d had an underfed look to him, and he slouched around, as if trying to go unnoticed. Except with my dad. When he was bent over the engine of the Torino, working side by side with my dad, that was the only time I’d seen him smile.