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That’s all I need to say and she’s launching into all of the places that she wants to see. She’s been to all of the major cities growing up, so now she wants to see Yellowstone, Mackinac Island, and some tiny town in Italy that I’ve never even heard of.
I promise myself that I’ll find a way to take her to all of those places.
She’s pulling up pictures on her phone when the first customers start to trickle in. The music kicks up even louder and Betty shifts closer to me so we don’t have to scream to be heard over it.
“See? It’s called Termoli.” She shows me the map and then switches over to images.
I can’t deny that it looks like a pretty place, but it’s Betty’s excitement that has the corners of my lips kicking up.
I wave some more people in, taking the stool next to her as she starts to look up camping gear.
“I have a sleeping bag,” I tell her when she pulls up that page and she grins at me.
“Would we just need one?” she asks with a wink and I laugh.
“I’m not sure that we’d both fit, but we can try.”
She grins at me and then goes back to looking at her phone. A pang of guilt hits me when I think about the last message that I got on my own phone and I wonder if I should just tell her right now that her parents technically hired me to be her bodyguard.
I know that she’ll react badly though, and I don’t want her to be stranded here with me. I have a feeling that she’ll try to walk home and it’s already dark out, so I can’t have that.
I mean, I haven’t gotten paid yet and there’s still time for me to quit and refuse payment, so maybe she never has to know.
I know that that’s what I’ll be telling her parents tomorrow when I call them, but I can’t seem to shake the weird feeling in my gut that tells me this is still going to backfire on me. Even as Betty starts to debate the merits of a tent versus an RV, it’s still there and when we head home after my shift, I hold her a little tighter, wondering if this will be the last time that she’s in my arms.
ChapterNine
Betty
I smile as I leave the store but that smile quickly fades when I see how hard it’s raining.
I’m out running some errands while Hayes does his laundry and some other chores around the house. I was supposed to run to the grocery store, office store, and then pop over to the arts and crafts store, but now I’m debating if I should avoid the bad weather and roads and just head home.
So far, I’ve only gone to the arts and craft store and I bite my lip, weighing my options. I really only went out today because I wanted to do something nice for Hayes. He’s been so generous with me. I smile every time I sit down at my new desk and I wanted to try to repay him in some way.
The only problem is, what do you get the guy who doesn’t seem to want anything but you? When the idea hit me this morning, I knew that I needed to go out right away and get it.
“I can go grocery shopping and run errands tomorrow,” I tell myself, clutching the canvases and other supplies that I bought to surprise Hayes tighter as I start to run across the parking lot to my car.
I turn the heat on as soon as I start the car, aiming it at my hair in an attempt to dry it off a little bit. When I flip down the mirror, I sigh. I’m a mess. Water is dripping onto my shoulders and I’m drenched even though I had a parking spot close to the front door.
My red hair is hanging limp around me and plastered to my face in other places. Raindrops drip off of my nose and lips and I lick them away, trying to dry my face off on my shirt but it’s just as wet as the rest of me.
I pull out of the lot and turn toward home.
Home.
When did I start thinking of Hayes’s place as my home?
I mull that over, wondering if I should be freaked out at how fast our relationship has gone, but I’m oddly calm about it.
Hayes is amazing. He’s so sweet and attentive. He has been since the first night that we met, even though I don’t really remember meeting him.
He must feel the same way too because he hasn’t asked me to leave yet and it’s been over a week now. I wonder if he can feel the connection between us like I can.
My mind flashes back to that first morning that I woke up in his bed. He wanted to say something then. I remember the look he had when he realized that I didn’t remember anything from the night before.
I had put it out of my mind, but now I’m dying to know why he was so upset and what happened between us that night.
