I tilt my head back further and laugh at his small side of jealousy. “Perfect, because I know just the place to make those new memories!”
CHAPTER TWELVE
DREW
It’s been two weeks since the birthday gift from hell shook our relationship. We were still trying to recover from the Vegas bombshell. Courtney hasn’t brought it up again, but I can tell it still bothers her.
The following day, I brought the SD card to the department for Logan, and although it might not be enough to prove Mia was behind drugging us and kidnapping Courtney, it definitely adds to our case for when we press charges. That’s assuming we’ll ever be able to serve her papers again. She was a no-show at the next court date for the restraining order. Judge Henderson put a warrant out for her arrest, but according to her trusty attorney, he thinks she fled the state.
My guess is her parents sent her to one of their vacation homes while they attempt to pay off someone in the system to get this taken off her record. It shouldn’t surprise me, really. Her parents have never forced her to take responsibility for her actions and have only enabled her behavior.
I wish she’d just show up and we could get this part over with, but she’s now made matters way worse for herself. The judge could’ve pushed the restraining order through without her being present in court, but once her attorney spilled the news that she hasn’t been at her residence the past few weeks, he doesn’t trust she’d be home to be served the final restraining order papers.
So, until they can find her or she turns up, we’ll continue building our case and the temporary restraining order stands.
Since my rotation is over for the week, I decide to sleep in and head to the gym for a few hours before Courtney gets home from work. As I pull into the driveway, I notice her car and another one parked next to hers.
“Court?” I shout as soon as I step into the house.
Buddy greets me at the door with his tongue hanging out. Bending down, I pet his head and scratch his back. “Hey, Buddy.” He wags his tail faster.
“In the kitchen,” she yells back.
I round the corner and see her and Kayla. Courtney adds ingredients to a bowl as the mixer spins and Kayla is placing muffin cups in a muffin pan.
“Special occasion?” I ask, stepping closer to Courtney and placing a kiss on her lips. I love when she bakes. She always smells like fresh blueberries afterward.
“Does there need to be a special occasion for muffins?” She smirks.
“Yeah, I should know better by now, huh?” I smile.
“Kayla and I are brainstorming decorating ideas for our next place. We get the brains of the super talented Kayla Sinclair, top interior decorator at her firm!” Courtney brags and Kayla blushes.
“You’re brainstorming decorating ideas on a house we don’t have yet?” I arch a brow, leaning against the counter.
Courtney and Kayla exchange looks and I know they’re up to something.
“Well, we’ll obviously have a master bedroom and living room, so it can’t hurt to talk color templates. I’d really love an earthy tone in the kitchen and living room; it’s neutral and will match anything. I was thinking for our master bedroom, we could add a pop of color on one wall. Maybe teal so it’s not too girly, yet gives it a lively feel. What do you think?” Courtney rambles everything so quickly, I barely catch what she’s saying.
“I have no idea what that all meant, but if you and Kayla want to pick out color palettes or whatever, then I’m all for it. Just don’t make me walk into a rainbow-colored bathroom.”
Kayla chuckles, pulling her long, dark hair up as if she’s preparing for battle.
“Rainbow is so not in,” Kayla tells me, sounding all serious.
“Well, perfect then.” I open the fridge and grab the ingredients for my after-workout protein shake.
“I thought we had like three bags of muffins in the freezer,” I say as I mix my stuff together.
“Oh, these are for work. It’s Jayden’s birthday tomorrow, and I promised him I’d finally bring some of my muffins in, plus Travis has been begging for them so I figured it was time to bake.”
“And who’s Jayden?” I raise a brow.
“He’s the intern we’ve had for a while now. You’ve probably seen him a couple times on Fridays when you stop in, but he works in a different department, so he only comes around when someone in my department needs something. He’s in his last year of grad school and basically does all the bitch work around the office, so I thought it’d be a nice thing to treat him.”
“How nice of you,” I deadpan, keeping my lack of amusement obvious.
“Stop it,” she says with a laugh. “He’s harmless. He’s super metrosexual, like I think he swings both ways, but favors the D over the P.”