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“Wow,” Allison said, pulling away. “Let’s get you some food before you pass out on me.”
Rock had planned on letting her spend as much time as she wanted here. And while he’d seen enough of the place, guilt poked him for making her leave now. “If ya want to come back after lunch, just say word.”
Her sapphire-blue eyes, Sherbrooke blue as the media called them, assessed him. “Nah, I think I’ve seen enough for today. We can come back some other time.”
Thank you, God. “Let’s go.”
Since they’d ducked behind the bush, several more museum guests had spilled out into the garden, including the family they’d left behind in the orchid room. “Looks like our friends joined us. I wonder how they got him to stop screaming.”
“Bribed him with ice cream.” His comment earned him a raised eyebrow from Allison. “What? It always worked on me.”
“I can’t picture you rolling around on the ground because you didn’t get your way.”
“Left the rolling-around-on-the-ground tantrums to my brother Tom, but my parents used bribery with ice cream more than once on me.”
“I really hope I get to meet Tom soon so I can tell him you said that.”
“He’s got another three months before he’s stateside again.” And by the time Tom was back, he’d be gone for six months.
“Good thing I have a fantastic memory,” Allison said, reminding him he’d never told her he was being deployed again in June. “Is Tom the oldest?”
He’d tell her about his future plans later. “Jon’s the oldest. Tom’s a year and half older than me.”
They passed by the same guy he’d noticed earlier with the baseball cap, but now a woman with way too much makeup and not enough clothes, considering where they were, hung on his arm, not that he seemed to notice her. Once again, the guy’s face was buried in his guidebook.
“What about your other brother?”
“Frank’s only tens month younger than Jon. He’s out in California at Camp Pendleton.”
“Yikes, I thought my parents were crazy for having Alec eighteen months after they had me and Derek but ten months. Your poor mom.”
“Yeah, well sh—stuff happens,” he said, catching himself. Sometimes he forgot whom he was speaking too.
“That it does,” Allison agreed as they walked back into the main building and toward the main exit. “So what does the rest of the afternoon include?”
“We need to grab the lunch I ordered from DuPont Café, then head over to Bartholdi Park.” Unfamiliar with the restaurants in DC, he’d done an Internet search for places close to the park. The fact the joint allowed customers to pre-order takeout picnics had sealed the deal for him.
“Nice. Let’s try to find a spot near the fountain to eat. Did you know it was created by the same person who did the Statue of Liberty?”
Until he’d planned this day out, he hadn’t known the park existed, and he only knew it contained a fountain because of the picture featured on the web. “Nope.”
“I love seeing it at night when the lights are on. It’s nice during the day too but not the same.”
From the sound of it, she’d spent a decent amount of time visiting the area. Considering how much time her family spent in DC and her love of flowers, it didn’t surprise him. “We can stick around if ya want to see it tonight.” What the hell else they’d do in the city until then, he didn’t have a friggin’ clue. DC contained a lot of museums and cultural attractions, but he could only handle so much of that stuff in one day.
You’d do it for her, a tiny voice in his head, and not the one below his belt, whispered. Cazzo! He would. Somehow, in a short span of time, she’d become important to him in a way no other woman had.
“We could always visit my Uncle Warren and Aunt Elizabeth until it gets dark and walk back over.” Allison pulled her smartphone from her shoulder bag. “Do you want me to call and see if they’re home?”
Damn, he couldn’t tell if she was serious or not.
“I think he’ll like you.”
Gritting his teeth, he answered, “Up to you.”
Allison exploded with laughter and gave him a nudge in the side. “I’m kidding, well about stopping in to visit. I do think he’d like you.”
He relaxed his jaw. Meeting the Commander and Chief hadn’t been part of his plan today.
