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“Wait a minute,” I announce suddenly. “We’re going to the convent, the one you were raised in?” I ask, totally surprised.
“I wasn’t raised there honey, already mentioned that,” Noah adds patiently, but I can see his hands gripping the wheel tighter, not appreciating the association.
I half-laugh, half-gasp. “Why do we have to go there then?” I ask, feeling lost.
Noah’s eyes meet mine for a moment in the rearview again, giving me that ‘please’ look.
Not a request or a question. Just an order to trust him yet again.
I fold my arms and push myself back in my seat, eyeing him sidelong, just knowing he’s probably up to something fantastic and great.
Something totally not connected with any robbery.
Probably going to save the day somehow.
God how I love him.
“I don’t know about any robbery, Faith. Like I said, I made a promise and I’m keeping it is all,” he reminds me, signaling me to snuggle into him again instead of worrying about other stuff.
“I’m thinking the cooler states,” I tell him, almost whispering.
“Cooler?” he asks, nodding his head with renewed interest at the change of topic. “I like that idea, maybe somewhere with mountains too.”
“Maybe,” I purr, flicking my phone back to life, suddenly interested all over again to find us the perfect house to match the feeling I know we can work on. The life we’ll share together.
Perfect.
My ‘A’ searches turn from Alabama to Alaska, even Australia. I notice they have places there that rarely get over seventy-five degrees, most of the year.
Auckland, New Zealand catches my eye though.
Fifty-five degrees in July.
“Anywhere in the world, huh?” I venture aloud, feeling Noah’s grip tighten on my arm in silent reply.
“As long as you’re with me, I don’t mind where we land, baby. It’s a big world and I’m just glad I plucked you out of it. Wherever you want is just fine.”
All my fear and doubts start to clear.
I feel like an adventure ten times bigger than college is waiting for me. For the rest of my life, and why should I shackle myself to just one place with Noah as my man?
“New Zealand,” he murmurs to himself, curling his lip with satisfaction at the thought.
“Lot of hills and coastline there, the perfect place for an aviation company…” he says, trailing off.
Suppressing a squeal of my own, I open up a few more tabs and start looking at local real estate, as well as learning everything I can about the place.
“Maybe the perfect place to raise a family, too,” I tease him quietly, pretending not to hear him when he exclaims loudly, demanding to know what I said.
“Oh, nothing,” I murmur, wondering just how good mountain air might be and just how long it might take me to learn how to ski the slopes.Chapter TwentyNoahThe next few hours, the last leg of the drive to the city makes my heart sing.
Faith’s mood has lifted too, and now that she has her biggest worries off her chest, it’s time to start looking forward instead of what might be behind us.
She’s so excited at the prospect of not just sharing a place now, but learning to ski and all sorts of other things once she starts to learn more about all the places in the world starting with A.
She’s listing off details of houses, apartments, and chalets. A number of bathrooms, parking spaces, and proximity to schools and shopping centers.
At my insistence, she doesn’t mention prices.
That side of things doesn’t interest me, only her happiness does.
Only her choices.
Like I told her already, whatever she wants, she can have. The first few places she mentions, I’ll admit, sound a little unrealistic.
I mean, do we really just want a three room place with one bathroom and a tiny yard?
No. It’s got to be big enough for us both and to house our future family. I don’t want to get into that too much with her right now, but I sense she’s feeling the same way I do once the places she mentions with more enthusiasm have two stories, three bathrooms, and undercover garages.
Finding the time passes a lot quicker, easier when we’re both in a good mood, the sight of the turnoff and signs we’re getting closer than I thought makes me smile.
Sighing with some relief when I see the old Texas Street Bridge and the familiar skyline of Shreveport in the late afternoon light.
I also feel a little twinge of nostalgia. The city’s grown up and looks bigger, brighter.
My own memories of the place are a little different, and the closer we get to the convent, the more I feel a sense of foreboding I haven’t felt for a very long time.
“You know? I’ve never been to Louisiana,” Faith chimes, looking out the windows and then back to me as if I can tell her a thousand things about the place, but I can’t.
