When she climbs in her car, Tanner and I stand side by side and watch her drive off. “I should probably get home,” I tell him. “I have an early morning.”
“Then I should probably get you home,” he says before pulling the keys from his pocket and locking up his house.
The drive from Tanner’s house to the motel is quiet, but comfortable. I like that we don’t have to fill the void with nervous chatter. We can just be in the same space together. He pulls into the lot and parks his truck.
“Wait right there,” he says before jumping from the truck and walking around to my side where he pulls my door open and helps me down. His hands on my waist burn hot through my sweatshirt in the cold night air.
“Thank you,” I say to him. “For everything.”
“You’re most welcome.”
Tanner walks me up the stairs and to my room. I pull my ancient metal key from my jeans pocket but before I can turn to open the door, he wraps his arms around me and pulls my body flush with his. I gasp when his mouth hits mine and it’s the opening he needs to lick inside.
His tongue meets mine and I grab him by the front of his shirt and kiss him back with all I’ve got. There’s something about Tanner that I just can’t seem to walk away from. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you look at it, he can because he breaks the kiss dropping his forehead to mine, our breaths choppy and harsh.
“I’m gonna head on home before this goes too far too fast, darlin’,” he tells me.
“Oh, okay.”
“But I’ll stop by the cafe tomorrow,” he tells me.
“Okay.”
“And we’ll go to dinner at my parents on Thursday night,” he says.
“Okay.” Wait, what? I can tell he can see my brain trying to work through the fog that’s left behind after he kissed me stupid because he smiles at me like I just agreed and there is no taking it back. And I did!
“And then we’ll go to the football game on Friday night. Dress warm, it’s supposed to be chilly.” And with that he’s running down the stairs so that I can’t say no, that cheater.
I unlock the door to my room and step inside, nearly tripping over my other two pairs of shoes that I brought with me. They’re lined up in a neat little row by the door. I take a moment to look at the shoes and frown.
Brandon always wanted shoes lined up in neat little rows like this. No shoes were allowed on the carpet of his house. After he died, I had started wearing my shoes whenever I felt like it and leaving them where the mood struck me, so to see that I must have reverted back to old habits does not make me feel good.
I kick the row of shoes with my sneaker clad foot sending them all flying. That makes me relax a bit but I have to remind myself that Brandon is dead, he can’t hurt me anymore. On that thought, I ready myself for bed and fall into a dreamless sleep having just had a great second date with Tanner.
