“You don’t trust your boss?” I ask Cal.
“Can’t trust anybody right now.” He flips the turn signal and traces the road’s gradual curve onto the highway.
“No one at all?” Slowly, cautiously, I rest my hand on his thigh. It feels like it’s been days since he kissed me. Weeks since we had a moment to ourselves.
I’m starving for a drop of affection from the man beside me. He’s been busy; we both have. I need to know he still feels the way he did the night he took my virginity. That even though everything around us is changing at the speed of light, his feelings for me remain.
His self-possession cracks like candy coating, revealing a sweet, nougaty center. He brings the back of my hand to his lips. “Nobody but you, sweetheart.”
I relax into my seat to watch the city flying by. I’m about to drift off when Cal breaks the quiet.
“How’d your chat with the lieutenant go?”
“Fine, I guess,” I say. “He asked a lot of questions about you.”
“Oh yeah? What’d you tell him?”
“The truth. Minus a few...personal anecdotes.”
He gives my hand a gentle squeeze.
We hit a McDonald’s drive-thru for breakfast, which we eat in the car en route to wherever it is we’re headed. It’s about a forty-minute drive into the country, on dirt roads, past fields peppered with horses. We turn into a small gap in a thick copse of trees, continue down a slim driveway, through an overgrown orchard, then emerge onto a field with a large farmhouse.
“Whose house is this?” Kenzie asks. I’m genuinely startled to hear her voice.
“Austin’s,” Cal says. “We thought it’d be wise to get you girls out of the city.”
I glance around frantically for a barn or barn-like structure—anything that might trigger Kenzie—but the only outbuilding is a detached garage. As soon as we’re parked next to Austin’s truck, I climb out to help Kenzie down from the backseat. She sucks air through her teeth as she steps down from the truck, wincing in pain.
Austin comes out to greet us on the big wraparound porch.
“How’d you get here before us?” I ask him.
“I took the long way,” Cal says. “Just to make sure we weren’t followed.”
Austin takes my bag from me. We follow him inside, and I instantly fall in love with the hardwood floors and wooden beams on the ceilings.
“Sorry the place is still a work in progress,” Austin says. “I’m hoping to have it mostly finished by the fall.”
I have no idea what the house looked like when he bought it, but if the downstairs is an indication of the work he’s done so far, it’s impressive.
“I’ve set McKenzie up in the main bedroom upstairs, with its own bath,” Austin says. “There’s the pull-out couch in the living room, and one of you can take the twin bed in the gym.”
“We’ll both take that,” Cal says. I smile at the thought of us sleeping with our bodies pressed tightly together.
I reclaim my bag once we reach the main bedroom and begin laying out changes of clothes on the massive bed for Kenzie and me.
“I’ll take the couch, then,” Austin says.
Kenzie glances at him, lips pursed like she wants to protest.
“This is perfect,” I say quickly. “Where’s the bathroom?”
Austin points to a closed door beside an antique dresser. “One there, and another one downstairs. The one down the hall isn’t hooked up yet, so stick to those two for now. I installed a double-size water heater for my eventual jacuzzi tub,” he says with a solemn nod. “Take your time. There should be plenty of hot water for nice long showers.”
I thank him and shoot Cal a look that says I’ll be down in a little bit.
I fetch a cup of water from the bathroom and give Kenzie a couple of her painkillers before helping her out of her clothes. I undress, too, figuring I’ll jump in the shower with her. Hot water is a rarity at the motel, so we’d occasionally shower together to minimize each other’s time under the ice-cold spray.
There’s more than enough room for two people in Austin’s shower, and right now, Kenzie can barely move without wincing.
Being three inches taller than her makes it easy to wash her hair. I soap up her back, then her legs, careful not to press too hard on the dark-purple splotches. She doesn’t say a word throughout the whole process, but I can tell she’s in pain. I’m afraid if I open my mouth, I’ll start to bawl.
After we’re both cleaned and rinsed, I shut off the water and grab one of the fluffy brown towels from the nearby rack. I dry Kenzie off first and then dry myself.
Back in the bedroom, I help her into a pair of shorts and a tank top, then ease her into bed before shutting the blinds to darken the room.