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“I feel you. I can get with this too. Just as an escape. Not on some everyday type shit. It’s cool though. You said you were from here, right?”
“Yep.”
“So how did you end up in New York?”
Her body went stiff before she turned to peer at me. “You ready to tell me what you do?”
When I didn’t answer she shrugged. “If you get to keep secrets so do I.” She lifted the camera and aimed it at me. I turned my head as she fired off a round of shots. And then added, “It’s getting late. We better get going.”
“Late, it’s not even five yet.” I hated the way I wasn’t ready to give her back to her life or for me to go back to mine.
There was a conflict already brewing in the pit of my stomach because she felt good. The kind of good that I would ruin because my life was a fucking mess.
As much as I knew I had no right wanting the good that she was, I craved it. After one day with her confusion settled into my chest tightening in a way that made me feel like I couldn’t breathe. She was the type of good I wanted but didn’t deserve.
The rational part of my brain was telling me telling me to leave her alone and that I was wrong for getting this close but the impulsive side, the side she triggered, wouldn’t let me not imagine what it would be like to dive in deeper.
“It’s late enough and I have a dinner date that isn’t you.”
“But I thought you didn’t have a boyfriend.” I didn’t have the right to pry but there again, that damn impulsive side of me refused to cooperate.
“I don’t.” She stood, extending a hand to me, cradling her camera in the other. I accepted even though I didn’t need her help to stand. I simply wanted to touch her. I had been fighting the urge to do so all day.
“Then who do you have a dinner date with?”
She grinned, glancing over her shoulder because she was already traveling toward the car while I hadn’t moved an inch. Hopeful that if I didn’t my resistance would somehow make her stay. She didn’t.
“None of your business. I’ve done my duty. You’ve seen the best that Coleman has to offer and now it’s time for you to get back to the life you refuse to tell me about and for me to get back to mine.”
The drive back to town was quiet. I hated the divide. I wanted to ask questions I had no right to ask. I wanted to demand that whatever man was promised her time tonight didn’t get it, but that wasn’t fair.
This wasn’t where I belonged. She wasn’t where I belonged and in a few weeks I would hopefully be back to the bullshit that I’d sold my soul for.
As much as I loved what I did, the depravity and consequences that were attached to the choices I made were a constant reminder that I had no business where I was. So I kept quiet.
When we arrived back to city hall I was pissed and trying my best not to let it show. I didn’t have the right, but again, who the fuck cared. Pissed that she was leaving me to go spend time with another man.
As we stood between my Jeep and her car, I leaned against my door with my hands shoved my pockets. She peeked up at me, allowing the sun to hit her eyes just right.
I’d noticed them all day but in that moment they looked a little different. The outer edges showed just a small hint of green.
“Your eyes change colors.”
“I know. The only thing I got from my dad.” Her nose wrinkled like she was deep in thought about it.
“You look like your mom?”
“Yep, we could be twins. Del says I’m a younger version of my mother. Sometimes I catch her just staring at me and I know she’s seeing her, remembering.”
“She…”
“Yeah.” She nodded. “Died in her sleep. Nothing anybody could explain.”
“Shit I’m sorry. I know that kinda loss. It’s one you never really recover from.” I felt the muscles in my chest constricting.
“Your mom?” she asked, peeking up at me again.
“Yeah. A few years ago. Shit was hard. Still is.”
