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“I don’t have my phone,” she said.
“Oh.” He frowned. “Did you need to make a call right now? You can use my phone.” He patted his pockets. “I think... I think I left it in the jeep.”
“I don’t need to make a call.” She caught up to him. “It was an observation.”
Nodding, he continued to the Wrangler, opened the passenger side door, and tried to get in with the balloons in front of him.
Isabel nearly peed she laughed so hard. “You need big red clown shoes, Jackson.”
He backed up from the jeep, a confused expression on his handsome face. “These balloons won’t let me in the vehicle.” He stood there, looking helpless.
And damn adorable.
“Let’s see if I can help.” She came to stand next to him. “Give me those.” She wiggled her fingers at the balloons.
Jackson pulled them away. “You’re not going to let them go, are you, Isabel? These are my birthday balloons.”
She raised her right hand. “I swear I won’t let your birthday balloons go, Jackson. You can trust me.” She cleared her throat. “With your balloons. You can trust me with your balloons.”
He hesitated for another moment then handed them over.
Isabel’s grip on those ribbons was iron. She’d feel terrible if even one of those balloons escaped. “Now get in the jeep.” She started for the back of the vehicle.
“Where are you going with my balloons?” Jackson asked.
“I’m putting them safely in the back here, okay?” She pointed to the rear of the jeep.
“Okay.” He stood by the passenger door until she’d managed to wrestle all the balloons into the back. When she opened the driver side door, Jackson finally got into his seat.
“Thanks for handling those.” He arrowed a thumb to the balloons which filled the back and allowed Isabel no view out the rear window. “They were tricky.”
“Balloons are like that sometimes.” She put the key in the ignition as Jackson reclined his seat.
“I’m going to close my eyes for a few minutes, ’kay?” he mumbled.
“Okay. You relax and I’ll have you home in no time.”
“Thanks, Whisabel.”
Isabel’s hands froze on the steering wheel. Whisabel. She hadn’t heard that nickname in forever. The first time Jackson had called her that was when she’d gotten a higher grade on a pop quiz in Algebra than he had. Dating a freaking genius didn’t allow for many opportunities to outshine him, but she had on that one stupid quiz.
“You’re an Algebra whiz, Isabel,” Jackson had said. “You’re... Whisabel!” They’d laughed, but he’d taken to calling her that when it was only the two of them. It was a silly name, but it had come to mean intimacy to Isabel.
And he hadn’t forgotten.
She reminded herself that crawling into his lap and kissing the bejesus out of him while he was on the drunk side would be wrong.
So wrong it’s right?
She shook her head and started the engine. Kissing him now was a bad idea. Kissing Jackson at all was probably a bad idea, but she hadn’t been prepared to see him, let alone have all these feelings for him rush right to the surface.
After backing out of Christian’s driveway, she pulled onto the main road and fortunately knew exactly where she was so she could navigate back toward Pine River Cottages. Her grandfather probably wondered where the hell she’d been all afternoon.
And Blaze! Poor Blaze. He’d had Grandpa’s company, but that wasn’t the same as having his mama, especially when he was injured. She’d make it up to her pooch tomorrow.
Isabel spent most of the drive concentrating on keeping both of her hands on the wheel and none of her hands on the sleeping—and snoring—man beside her. While she and Jackson had been each other’s firsts in bed, they’d been too young to ever spend an entire night together. She’d had no idea the man was a snorer.
What else was he? They’d known each other very well back in high school, but so much time had passed since then. What new things were there to learn about him? She certainly wasn’t the same girl she had been as a teenager. She’d had experiences in Pennsylvania and she was damn sure Jackson had seen much in his time around the globe on dig sites. They most likely had a ton of new stories to share.
She wanted to hear his stories. She wanted to tell him hers.
Dammit. She wanted that date with him.
