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“It’s a coffee shop.” The words were twisted in sarcasm and confusion.
I raised a meticulous eyebrow when I refocused on him. “I know that. I mean where am I?”
“I’d say lost and confused.”
Yeah, some things never changed. Sarcasm had been Carter’s second language. “I mean, this place, this town.”
He leaned forward and narrowed his eyes. His mouth opened and closed before he finally decided to speak.
“You know what, never mind. I’ll look it up myself.”
Before I could unlock my phone, he placed his rough hand over mine, and talked in such an even tone I was instantly transfixed. “This is Ridge Heights, about an hour west of Rocky Mountain House, roughly thirty-two minutes east of Cline River, which is a great place for a picnic lunch. If you keep following the highway westward, you’ll come to a junction; the north takes you toward Jasper, and choosing the southbound road will take you to Banff. Both are roughly two and a half hours from here.”
“Thank you. That helps.”
There was no movement from his hand, or any sense of indecision about it being there in the first place, and rather than fight it, I embraced the warm touch. It was what I needed.
“You honestly had no idea where you were?”
My gaze lingered on his hand, travelling over his exposed forearm, across his perfectly pressed shirt, stopping briefly on his full lips before I settled on his dark-brown eyes. “It’s been an incredibly long day, and I got in my car and just drove until I didn’t want to anymore.” He didn’t need to know I’d screamed for part of the drive too. “I didn’t notice where I was when I stopped.”
A gentle snort filled the space. “That’s… wow. That’s a rough day.”
I huffed and folded under the concerning weight of his compassionate stare. “You have no idea but thank you for your kindness and your hospitality in paying my bill, but I really should get going.”
“Where are you parked?”
My lips puckered into a questionable pout and a soft sigh met my shrug. “Honestly, I have no idea.” I rose and gathered my belongings. “But I’ll find it.”
“You’re just going to wander around town in hopes of discovering it on some off chance? I know the town isn’t that big, but it’s big enough.”
“No,” I said smugly, and opened my car’s app, looking to see where it was parked.
He craned his neck over to look. “What kind of car do you drive that has an app?”
“Tesla, Model 3.” A gift I bought for myself after I passed my probation period at Baker-Bloom.
“Ah, fancy.” A familiar expression briefly crossed his face.
I’d seen it before. When I mentioned to people what I drove, they’d immediately judged me, assuming I was haughty and better than everyone else which simply wasn’t true. I’d researched for a long time before buying the car and it just made better sense for me.
Ignoring the subtle curious expression Carter tried to hide, I gave my attention to the app. “And now I know where I need to go.”
Those beautiful browns of his widened, and I remembered the first time I looked at the car’s app, mine had done the same. “Can’t you just summon your car to come to you? Isn’t that what a Tesla is all about?”
“It’s an electric car, not the Batmobile.” But the thought made me smile. It bore some similarities to the famous car, but not that particular feature.
“Let’s see where you are again?” I showed him the app. “That’s a bit of a hike. Especially in those.” His gaze fell to my heeled boots.
“Well, I walked here just fine in them.”
“Like what, an hour ago? Before the snow fell?”
“There was some snow falling.” I empathisedsome.
A charming yet questioning expression caused his left eyebrow to rise to new heights. “Do you have good grips on them?”
There wasn’t. They weren’t practical walking boots; they were pretty, looked fantastic with my pants, and gave my average height a regal boost.
