“You went quiet for a second. Since that’s so rare, I thought maybe you got abducted by aliens.”
I laugh again. We both do.
And God help me, I realize I'd much rather be here driving around with her than doing just about anything else.
I shake my head.
Mary just smiles and turns her head to look out the window, and into the darkness.
And it hits me again.
Christ—she's pretty.
Not in the way magazine covers are pretty.
Not polished.
Not artificial.
Not perfect.
Real.
Warm.
Soft.
The kind of beautiful that sneaks up on you.
The kind that gets worse every time you look at it.
The kind that makes a man start thinking dangerous thoughts about forever.
Which is ridiculous.
Obviously.
“Anyway, Ego's digging around for me.”
Mary turns slightly in her seat.
“About the permits?”
Hope flickers across her face.
Small.
Fragile.
Enough to make me wish I had better news.
“Yeah.”
“Well?”
I sigh.
“Nothing concrete yet.”
