“What’s this?” She peeks inside and removes a box of saltine crackers and a six-pack of ginger ale.
“For the nausea. Maybe there’s something better. I’ll do a little research.” Her lips part, and she blinks at me in confusion or maybe gratitude. Doesn’t matter which.
I scoop her up and carry her back over to Dolly. She squirms in my arms, but I grip her waist more tightly, holding her against my chest. “I can walk, you know.” Her protest doesn’t carry much conviction, so I keep her right where she is.
“Shh.”
“Don’t shush me. And don't think that I'm going to let this become a habit—you carrying me around,” she says.
“Would you just…stop being stubborn for one half of a goddamn second?”
She blows out a slow breath, and I feel her body relax. For a moment, I catch a glimpse of what a future could look like with her and me and a baby, but I quickly banish the image. No one said anything about us being a family. Her idea of a business arrangement might suit me and my life just fine.
“Thank you for going to the store for me. I really do appreciate it.”
Once we’re in the saddle, Dolly walks us slowly through the main square. I can't help pointing out a few landmarks. I love it here, and I’m proud of this town.
“That’s the grocery store. It’s been there for two generations. The people who own it also have a little grape vineyard on the edge of San Ysidro. They only produce about fifty bottles a year, but it's some of the best wine you'll ever taste.”
Pointing at a small park in the center of town, I crane my neck to see if I recognize anyone sitting on the benches. Tom Olsen looks up from a game of backgammon and waves. I nod back at him. “This place gets mobbed every day with moms and kids after school. Ice cream truck camps out on the corner. Not unusual to find a couple of bottle rockets being launched from over there.” I point at a strip of grass next to a jungle gym.
She looks at me over her shoulder. “Bottle rockets and ice cream? You live in a movie from the 1950s.”
I laugh. “Well, honey, there’s a lotta open space out here, no threat of running into skyscrapers. If all you know is Los Angeles, you're bound to be surprised by the pace of things.”
She tips her head against my chest, and I can smell her shampoo. I’d be lying if I said I haven’t had this exact dream since the night we met. Only it didn’t end with a ride through town. Far from it.
It also didn’t include parenthood.
“Ihavebeen outside of Los Angeles,” she says. Even without looking down, I know her bottom lip juts out, defiant. Dolly takes her time on the roads she knows well.
“Yeah? Like where?” I ask.
“You mean you want to know everywhere I've ever been?” Again, a look over her shoulder and a raised eyebrow tell me she thinks I’m absurd.
“Tell me some places that you love. Your top five.”
Well, that's different. Places I love and places I've been are not at all the same things.”
“I want the ones you love,” I say.
“Well, I did take a really great trip to Croatia once. The water there is so clear, you can see the bottom through thirty feet of it.”
“Croatia?” I ask. “Not even sure where the heck that is. Pretty sure it's in Europe, but my map skills aren't up to par.”
“Yes. Near Italy. I was lucky enough to be on a boat once there, and the water there is the most beautiful I've ever seen. It was over ten years ago when I was in college on a backpacking trip. I went all over, but that place stood out. I swore to myself that I was going to get back to that water someday. I've never been able to get the sight of it out of my mind.”
“And you haven't been back?” I ask. “Not in ten years when it made such an impression on you?”
She clicks her tongue. “Work got in the way. I've been nose to the grindstone, no breaks. Not a lot of vacation time when you’re trying to make partner, and not a lot of places I wanted to go alone.”
I file that information away. Interesting. “Now we're getting somewhere. So no boyfriend back home, no big relationships?”
“I didn't say that.” There’s a long pause, and I wait to hear about the boyfriend back home. “But no. No boyfriend.”
“How about little relationships?”
“You have a lot of questions,” she says.
