Page 247 of ClickBack

He reaches for the remote and turns it on, angling it toward my side of the bed. I wait until he settles before putting my leg over his.

“Too hot?” he asks.

“In places.”

He laughs and pulls the sheet over us, leaving my foot out where the cool air can find it.

Chapter 41

Jarrett

I ring Giselle’s doorbell with her garage opener in my hand. Through the glass, I watch her look at the rental in the driveway, then back at me. She unlocks the door without taking her eyes off my face.

“You said tomorrow.”

“Had to return this.” I hold up the remote.

“You flew here to bring me a garage opener.”

“I take care of people’s things.”

“You could have mailed it.”

“Thought we settled that. Don’t mail me my shit.”

“This is my shit.”

I laugh and step inside. She closes the door behind me, then puts both hands against my chest. I had something else ready to say. It goes when she looks up.

I kiss her and feel her fingers close in my shirt. Two weeks of looking at this woman on a screen, watching her walk out of the frame to find her glasses or answer the door, and I have her right here. I bring her closer. Her hand slides around the back of my neck, and for a while the only thing I need to get right is this.

When she eases away, I follow her.

“Hello to you, too,” she says against my mouth.

“Missed you.”

“I noticed.” She brushes something off my shoulder. “You eat on the plane?”

“Yeah. You got plans tonight?”

She looks toward the television, where somebody has taken a wall out of a house. “I was waiting to see if that ceiling came down.”

“I’ve got something better.”

“What do I need to wear?”

“Comfortable shoes.”

“That could mean a lot of things.”

“None of them require a waiver.”

She considers me, then points upstairs. “Forty minutes.”

I bring in my suitcase and park the rental in the garage. Her cardigan is across the sofa. There’s a new photograph of Zion on the entry table, a school picture from Charlotte. His smile looks like somebody made him take his hood off immediately before it. I send Rae a picture of it with a question about who offended him. She answers while I’m putting my phone away.

Rae: He said the photographer kept calling him buddy.