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Is that a challenge?
She brought up the music store on his cell phone and typed in the next musical choice. This was too much fun.
When the AC/DC song was over, Brad Paisley’s twangy “I’m Gonna Miss You” streamed next. She hadn’t been able to resist but already had another song waiting to follow it up.
“I’m going to be sure to send you my phone bill from this little trip of ours.”
“Every dollar will be worth it,” she said smugly and watched as he rolled his eyes as Brad sang about a man choosing fishing over his wife. But there was still the tiniest of smiles.
“Which actually reminds me,” he said, clearing his throat and turning the music down to a more manageable level. “Kate called earlier to check in on you. She mentioned that your mother reached her. Seems pretty determined to speak with you.”
“I’ll just bet she is.” Payton was reminded once again why she’d chucked her phone, and any lingering regret flew away.
“You okay?” he asked, a note of concern in his voice from her continuing silence. She noticed his tanned fingers gripping the steering wheel. Concern for her?
She took a breath and tossed her head back, this time smiling a full sincere smile. “I am. Really. And if my mother knew what was good for her she’d book herself into a spa somewhere for one of her bi-monthly serenity checks.” Something her mother did anytime Payton resisted her attempts to control her life. “Thank you, though. For your concern.”
“Oh. And Kate also wanted you to know that she’s really looking forward to your girls’ night out but we’re not to kill ourselves trying to get to the hotel in time.”
At this she laughed outright. “Did she actually tell you that?”
“Um, something along those lines, I think.”
“You’re almost as bad of a liar as she is. No, Kate thinks my plan is to paint the town red and all that, as I’ve convinced her, but I know my best friend better than anyone and I know that a night in, just the girls, is closer to heaven for her. My real plan is to surprise her later tonight. Not to say I don’t have a few surprises, but they’ll all occur in the safety of her suite.”
“It’s good to see it’s not only me that you like to torture.”
“Nope,” she fluttered her eyes at him. “It’s not just you. But you do bring new challenges to my endeavors.”
He laughed out loud at that and turned his attention back to the road. His shoulders relaxed, his shades on. Payton tried to resist staring at him. It was difficult to remember why she didn’t want him turning to her and leaning across the way, placing a kiss on her lips, feeling his breath on her, his fingers in her hair, maybe lower…
“Tell me about you and Kate. How did you two meet?”
Damn. Shifting gears…
“From what I know about Kate, I can’t imagine you two were playing in the same social circles. Didn’t you go to some ridiculously expensive private school?”
“Not by choice, but yes.” Any place would have been better than one filled with stuck-up snots high on their own self-importance. Snots who’d been her friends—or what she knew of friendship up to that point. Until she met Kate. “Kate transferred in sixth grade.”
He threw her a dubious look. “Kate attended your uppity school?”
“You might have noticed that my best friend is very driven. Brilliant. Hardworking.” Something that Payton had always admired. And the way Kate stood up for herself and anyone else she cared about. “She was awarded one of the few financial scholarships the school handed out every year, something I count my blessings for every day. I can’t imagine what my life would be like if Kate hadn’t come into it.”
A Sheryl Crow song came on but she was barely paying attention as she remembered that day seventeen years ago. She smiled. “You should have seen Kate then. She took herself so seriously—kind of like you. Always had an answer to every question asked, and it wasn’t hard for her to earn a few haters among the other kids. Kids who were ruthless in their taunting, mostly about things like her Payless shoes, since the uniforms eliminated the possibility of much teasing on that score. She had no reason to like any of us.”
“What about you?”
“Me? I wasn’t anywhere as smart as Kate, but I did okay. Academically and socially, since I was able to stay up on the latest fashions, thanks to Emily Vaughn, who actually hired me my own personal stylist. Don’t ask.
“Anyhow, it was probably just a month after she’d transferred. Poor little old me, with my big first world worries, was crying in the bathroom because I’d heard Heather Little bragging about kissing the boy who was supposedly my boyfriend at the dance the Saturday before. Not important in the big scheme of things and, like I said
, Kate had no reason to be nice to any of us. But all the same, it was Kate who found me and who tried to comfort me.”
“Yeah. Sounds like her.”
The soft admiration in his tone gave her the oddest twinge of what could only be described as jealousy. Kate was wonderful. But could Cruz ever see her, Payton, in the same light?
“Kate not only got the tears stopped, but after she told me she’d seen Rob just that morning with a cold sore the size of Mount St. Helens on his upper lip and that Heather may soon have more than a story to share about her special night, I almost bust my gut laughing. And just like that I went from sobbing to laughing on what had felt like, moments before, the worst day of my life.”
