Falling for Gracie

Riley might think they were safe, but Gracie stayed slumped in her seat until it became obvious Zeke was heading directly to the freeway and not trying to lose anyone.

“Where do you think he’s going?” she asked as she shifted into a more comfortable position. “And what’s he up to? If he’s not seeing another woman, the possibilities are endless.”

“Please don’t list them,” Riley said.

She glanced at him. “I wasn’t going to.”

“One never knows with you.”

She bristled. “Excuse me,” she said, turning toward him as much as her seat belt would allow. “You don’t know me at all. Your impressions and assumptions come from my actions when I was barely fourteen years old and whatever you picked up reading that stupid series of articles. Until yesterday you’d never had a conversation with me or spent any time in my presence.”

“We talked when you threw yourself in front of my car and begged me to kill you if I was going to marry Pam.”

She felt heat flare on her cheeks and was grateful for the darkness. “That wasn’t a conversation. I talked, you got in your car and drove in the other direction.”

“Good point. So you’re saying I should give you a chance.”

“I’m saying you shouldn’t judge me or assume anything until you’ve gotten to know me better.” Then, suddenly aware he may not want to get to know her better, she pointed. “He’s getting on the freeway.”

“I can see that.”

Riley accelerated smoothly, keeping up with Zeke’s car. When they were on the freeway, he backed off a little. Unfortunately another SUV moved right in front of them, blocking Zeke’s vehicle from view.

“There’s so many of them,” she said as she looked out the side window.

Sure enough, they were surrounded by SUVs. Sort of like a weaker force being taken by a bigger enemy.

“Keep his license plate number handy,” Riley said. “We’ll need it if we get separated for very long.”

She waved the piece of paper she held. “I have it right here.” Another SUV cut them off. “Maybe we should have bought one of those homing devices. We could mount the little display thingie and then just follow the red dot to wherever he’s going.”

She felt Riley’s gaze on her.

“What?” she demanded. “I’ve seen it in the movies. It’s not as if I own one and use it on unsuspecting prey.”

“I can’t be sure with you.”

She leaned back and deliberately turned away from him. “That’s what I meant about not judging me. I made a reasonable suggestion and you jumped on it.”

“You thinking putting an illegal tracking device on someone’s car is reasonable?”

“You really think it’s illegal?”

“If it wasn’t raining so hard and I didn’t have to watch the road, I swear I’d be banging my head against the steering wheel.”

Genuinely baffled, she blinked at him. “Why? What did I do?”

He made a whimpering sound she wasn’t sure she’d ever heard before.

“Are you married?” he asked. “Do I have to worry about some burly guy showing up and trying to beat the crap out of me?”

“I’m not married, although I’d like to point out that anyone I did marry would completely understand my need to help my sister.” She liked the faint touch of indignation in her voice, then nearly passed out as a thought occurred to her. “Are you?”

“Nope. Pam cured me of wanting anything long-term. Since her, I’ve kept my relationships strictly superficial.”

Gracie wanted to ask more questions, but she spotted something. “Is that his car? Look. That dark SUV is exiting the freeway.”

She glanced around for a sign and saw they were coming into Santa Barbara.

“What could he be doing here?” she wondered aloud.

“We don’t know that it’s him. I can’t read the license plate, can you?”

She squinted. “No. You’ll have to get closer.”

Riley tried, but they missed the signal at the bottom of the off-ramp and had to hurry to catch up with the other vehicle. They shot through the intersection only to see it turn left up ahead.

“Go, go, go!” she yelled.

“I’m going.”

They followed the other car through a residential neighborhood and watched it pull up in front of a two-story house.

She couldn’t believe it. What was Zeke doing here?

The front door opened and a young child dashed out into the rain. “Oh, my God. He’s not just having an affair. He has a whole other family. It’s just like those Lifetime movies.”

“Not exactly,” Riley said as he pointed.

The driver had stepped out of the SUV and walked around front. Gracie relaxed as she saw a small, curvy woman reach down and pull the child into her arms.

“Oh. I guess we lost him,” she said, feeling both foolish and relieved.

“You think?” Riley turned around in the narrow street and headed back the way they’d come. “I should have let you drive. You’re the professional.”

She raised her eyebrows and looked at him.

He had the nerve to grin. “It’s true,” he told her. “Okay, I’ll back off. It’s nearly seven-thirty and I haven’t had dinner. Want to grab something before we head back?”

She couldn’t have been more surprised if he’d morphed into a leopard man. Okay, that would have surprised her more, but not by much.

“You mean dinner?” she asked, trying not to sound too stunned by the invitation.

“It’s the generally accepted meal for this time of day, but if you’d prefer something else, I’ll see what I can do.”

Her stomach clenched and for once it had nothing to do with acid. Her big eating plan had been her usual tuna salad that she generally had five nights out of seven.

“I, um, yeah. That would be great,” she said calmly.

She wanted to open the window and scream out into the night, but instead she contented herself with a little inside shimmy and a very big smile. Dinner with Riley. Talk about a great ending to a good day.

RILEY CHOSE a restaurant on the water and, despite the rain, Gracie found it far too romantic. If only she’d worn something different. Something sexy and flirty and…Oops. As they were shown to a booth by the window she had to keep reminding herself that this wasn’t a date and that Riley wasn’t interested in her in that way.

They were, um, friends, maybe. Former acquaintances brought together by a common goal-to find out what Zeke was doing when he stole away at all hours.

“You’d think she’d just ask him,” she said as she was seated.

Riley settled in his chair and raised his eyebrows. “What?”

“What? Oh, sorry. Thinking out loud. Just my sister and the problem she’s having with Zeke. Why doesn’t she just ask him? She says it’s because she doesn’t want to know, but isn’t knowing better than not knowing? I’d want to know. At least then you have something you can handle. But this nothingness is just too much like being left in the dark. Don’t you agree?”

He shook his head. “I lost the thread somewhere.”

“It doesn’t matter.” She picked up her menu but instead of looking at it, she stared out into the storm.

Rain pounded against the windows. Below she could see the angry surf smacking into the shore. Lights from the restaurant offered a feeble glow that quickly bled into the darkness.

“What a fabulous night,” she said.

He raised both eyebrows. “You’re kidding, right?”