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Well, not right now anyway. Maybe in a few months. Maybe next year. Definitely when he read about her dating somebody in the online edition of theTumble Creek Tribune. Luckily that hadn’t happened yet.
Time. He owed her that at least. But hewouldtry again.
In the past, the longer any one relationship went on, the more and more time he devoted to work. That hadn’t been happenstance.Hewas the one ending things, escaping from a connection once it got too deep. Fading away until the other person gave up.
But with Lori…He didn’t want to lose himself in architecture. It wasn’t that he couldn’t work. It wasn’t that he was slumped over his desk, fading away. He could work just fine, thank you. But the moment he set down his pencil, he thought of her. When he finished a project, she was the one he wanted to show it to.
When he’d dated in the past, he would look up from hours of concentration and think, “Oh, shit, I’m late and she’s going to be pissed.” But now he expected to look up and see Lori standing there smiling and tapping her foot.
She understood him.
Too bad he hadn’t taken the time to understand her.
“Time,” he murmured. That was all she needed.
After a glance out at the lazy snowflakes, Quinn began to pack up. Time for a swim and then more work.
“Good night, Mr. Jennings,” Jane said as he passed her desk.
“Any meetings tomorrow?”
“Nothing tomorrow,” she replied.
Hand on the door, Quinn stopped and looked back at Jane. “Do you think I look like an umbrella?”
Her eyes went wide and she shook her head, but Quinn saw the way her gaze darted to his shoulders. Sighing, he slumped against the closed door. “I screwed things up, Jane. Badly. I just want to give her some time.”
Jane’s face softened, losing all its stiff professionalism. Lori had been right. Janewaspretty. “Okay, but don’t take too long. I like her. And she’s the only woman who chases the thoughts from your eyes.”
“Yeah,” he said, and walked out into the snowy day. But just as he reached his car, the snow stopped. While he stood there, one hand on the roof, the sun came out. Quinn looked toward the mountain pass that led to Tumble Creek. It sparkled.
Lori had closed the garage permanently. He’d seen that in theTribunea couple of weeks before. And Molly said she was doing really, really well.
It had been five weeks. Maybe she’d had enough time.
Quinn thought back to those books she liked. There weren’t any damsels in distress in those stories, but there weren’t any wussy heroes, either. Lori didn’t need saving anymore, but maybe it wouldn’t hurt to ride up on a stallion and ask if she wanted a ride.
“A stallion,” he muttered in disgust. He’d clearly read one too many of those books in the name of research.
But then Quinn thought of something. Something big. And yellow. Something powerful enough to get over a snowy mountain pass and nimble enough to maneuver around the snow gates. And most importantly, something Lori wanted to ride.
He’d promised her a bonus for her work and then never delivered. He couldn’t live with that all winter, could he? She was counting on him.
Confident that he had the perfect excuse to see Lori Love, Quinn opened the door of his car, threw in his portfolio, and rode off into the sunset.
* * *
LORI PACKEDanother VHS tape into the big box and tried not to wince. It hurt to get rid of her travel tapes, but it was the next thing on her list, and she was sticking to it. If there was one sure sign someone was stuck in the past, it was a collection of VHS tapes. Lori wiped her dusty hand on her sweatpants and grabbed another tape.
Greece.Cringing, she tossed it in the box.
The posters were long gone, rolled up in tubes and stuffed in the closet. She’d have pictures of her own soon. She didn’t need posters. She’d go through the books next and get rid of any that were more than five years old.
The last VHS tape fit neatly in the box. Lori stood up and looked around. “Damn, I’m kind of awesome.”
Dust motes danced crazily under the force of her words, so she moved her awesome ass to the window and heaved it open. The snow had stopped and it was close to fifty degrees. Beautiful. As she looked out at the wet, happy dandelions that were already encroaching on the unused lot, something rumbled in the distance.
Lori frowned and leaned closer to the glass. A deep sputtering sound echoed down the street, then faded away. Shrugging, she was just starting to turn back to her work when something yellow flashed between the hardware store and the gas station. She paused and watched the top of her fence line out of curiosity. From this side of the house, she couldn’t see the front of her lot, just the very corner of the wooden fence that surrounded it.
