Vicky had the feeling again that she knew Jason. He was on the CkR International elevator so she must have seen him before at work. Maybe that is why she felt so safe. Vicky laughed to herself. She was being silly “Thanks, it’s raining pretty hard out here and my bus doesn’t come for another twenty minutes or so. I’m glad your car is a rental because I’m making little puddles everywhere”. When Jason heard her laugh time literally seemed to stand still. Maybe that first time wasn’t a fluke after all. She stole his breath away. Vicky must have felt it too because for just an instant they both held each other’s stares. Of course, she was the first to turn away looking outside her window as the car started to pull away into traffic. “I usually take the bus to my daughter’s day care”. Mentioning her daughter usually put men off real quick. She didn’t realize she was holding her breath waiting for his reaction. ‘Shit’, Jason thought. He couldn’t believe he was doing this when although technically available things were up in the air with Bridget and this woman was married with a child. Vicky could see his entire expression change and felt unreasonably hurt. “You know what…that’s ok. You can let me off at the next corner". Jason felt somewhere in this conversation he’d said or done something wrong. It was a subtle change but she was blocking him out like he’d disappointed her in some way. Jason checked his rearview mirror stalling for time “Is the daycare around the corner? Must be nice for your husband to know you are so close to your daughter”. Did he think she had a husband? Was that it? Was that why he seemed disappointed? Vicky hoped so. “Actually, no. The daycare is not around the corner and my husband would be shocked since I don’t have one”. Jason was relieved to hear that and sheepishly asked “So you’re not married?”. It seemed like his disappointment was more about thinking she was married than the fact that she had a child. This might be new territory for Vicky. Most men found the quickest way out of a conversation with her once they found out she had a child. Jay didn’t seem to be doing that. Vicky chewed her bottom lip. She used to do that when she was really nervous. It was such a bad habit and she thought she’d broken it years ago. She was attracted to this man. She hadn’t felt this way in a really long time. She responded “No, I’m not married but I do have a three year old daughter, Angel.” Jason’s eyes went straight to her lips. Damn, he wished it was he who was nibbling on them. Where the hell did that come from? He went from being attracted to her to wanting to nibble on her lips. Why should he be surprised? Wouldn’t any warm blooded man feel the same way? She was beautiful. Whatever wall that had gone up between them seemed to disappear again. Jason turned on the charm, “I’d feel so guilty if when you got there to pick up your daughter you were sick from being in this rain. Please give me the address and I’ll put it into my GPS”. Vicky couldn’t help but give Jason the address. She couldn’t resist his smile.
The ride over was short. It seemed like they’d made it to the daycare center in the no time at all. They had easy conversation. Vicky pointed the center out to Jason and he pulled into the parking lot. The daycare wasn’t in the best part of town but it wasn’t in the worst either. Vicky hated that the ride was over so quickly and wished she had a few more minutes with him. After he’d pulled up to the door Vicky started to get out of the car “Thank you so much for the ride. You don’t know how much I appreciate it. You’ll have to let me pay the favor back the next time you’re in town. Have a safe flight home”. Jason didn’t want her to leave but was so tongue tied he didn’t know what to say. Vicky gave him an amazing smile then got out of the car and ran towards the daycare center. Jason realized he didn’t even get her name. He finally got a coherent thought together, rolled his windows down, and yelled after her “Hey wait…what’s your name?”. Vicky turned
