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At the sound of our laughter, Julia stopped and turned around. “What are you guys talking about?” She looked curiously at us.
I narrowed my eyes and tried to tell her telepathically that there was nothing going on between Will and me, but I said aloud, “I was telling Will about Annisa’s neon wetsuit. It was outrageous, and I can’t believe she had another one like it in her closet.”
Julia nodded. I knew that she didn’t believe me, but she was astute enough to know that I wasn’t going to tell her what we were talking about.
“So now what?” Tristan asked when we got back to Julia’s car.
“I guess we’ll have to wait for Aiden to call me back. Hopefully, he’ll do that soon,” I said.
“Why don’t we go back to my apartment and wait for the call? That way, I can see Grumpy, too,” Julia suggested. She looked at us to see what we thought.
I gave her a thumbs-up since I didn’t have any place to go. However, the guys had other things they had to do.
“I’m afraid I have plans this evening,” Will said.
“And I just got beeped. I need to go to the hospital.” Tristan looked at the text on his phone.
Julia and Tristan kissed goodbye while I told Will, “It was nice to meet you, and I hope to see you soon.”
Will smiled. “Yeah, it was nice to meet you, too, and I’m sure we’ll see each other again.”
The guys waited until we got into the car before walking to their own vehicles. As usual, it took all of Julia’s concentration to drive through the narrow streets of San Francisco.
“Why do the streets have to be so steep?” Julia gritted her teeth as she got stuck at a light in the middle of a hill.
“Just be glad that you’re not driving a stick shift,” I said.
“Do they even make those type of cars anymore?” she asked absentmindedly.
I shrugged my shoulders. Considering I hadn’t regularly driven a car in almost ten years, I had no idea. My phone rang, and Aiden’s name appeared on the screen.
“Hi, Aiden. How are you?” I asked and pushed the button so I could put our call on speaker.
“I’m doing good. Listen, is it too late to come see you?” His voice was scratchy from the spotty reception along the coast.
“You can meet us at the apartment,” Julia said while paying attention to the car in front of her.
“Oh, hi, Julia. I didn’t know that you were still with Claire,” Aiden said.
“Yeah, we finished having coffee with Tristan and his friend. Hey, why don’t we order Chinese takeout?
“That’s a great idea!” I said, thinking about the Sichuan restaurant close to Julia’s house. Before I started to fixate on the spicy cuisine, I asked, “So, did Annisa have a good excuse for all the designer accessories and scuba gear she had in her closets?” I asked.
“I think it’s better to tell you and Julia in person what Annisa told me. I should be there in an hour and half,” Aiden said and then he cut out.
“Ah…stupid reception,” I grumbled, looking at the black screen. I frowned as I put the phone away and wondered what was so important that Aiden had tell us the news in person.
Chapter Twenty-One
While Julia was placing the food order online, I went to the kitchen to get a bottle of white wine from the fridge.
Filling the glasses with wine, I called out to Julia, “What did you order?”
“The shrimp lo mein for you, the Sichuan chicken for Aiden, and mapo tofu for me.”
“Yum, I can’t wait! That sounds delicious.” I rubbed my stomach in anticipation of the Chinese food. Even though there were Chinese restaurants in Bahrain, I missed the West Coast version of the cuisine.
I plopped down on one side of the couch. Grumpy came next to me and laid his chin on my leg. “Hi, pup!” I was scratching his ears when he gave a short bark, alerting us that someone was approaching the apartment. By the time that I heard the knock at the front door, Grumpy had leaped from the couch and trotted to the door.
