Page 21 of Timelessly Ours
For the next few minutes, I sip my hot coffee and listen to him rearrange his schedule for the day. All to fit in his meetings between ten and two.
“You know…I can take Rory to school today.”
He looks up at me. Yep, me again. The annoyance in the room.
I blink innocently. “And pick her up.”
He accesses me, leaning an elbow over the kitchen counter. “How’s your driving record?”
“Been driving for ten years. Never had a speeding ticket or violation or a court order.”
He glances at Rory. “So if I were to call up a friend of mine at the station to pull up your driving record…”
I sigh. “Six years. One DUI and the court order was for an unpaid parking ticket.”
He raises a brow and I roll my eyes. “Okay fine, it was for failure to appear in—you know what, forget it. Sorry I offered.” I’ve had just about enough of his holier-than-thou attitude.
Not that I blame him for questioning me. This is his daughter’s safety we’re talking about. And Nicole Kane is a known pathological liar.
I abandon my coffee and step out onto the back porch. It’s large and elevated. There’s a white swing bench to the left and a fairly sized hot tub on the right. A set of steps leads out to a grassy field with one giant tree in the middle.
I suck in the crisp October air. Cursing myself for acting like an idiot. It’s got to be the residual alcohol that’s impairing my brain function. He’d be a fool to trust me with his kid. Especially since the image of me passed out on a street corner is forever drilled into his brain.
I hear the door swing open behind me. “Nicole.”
When I don’t turn around, he steps up behind me. “Will you look at me?”
“Just go. The sooner you take Rory to school, the sooner you can get back and call whoever you need to so I can get out of here. Be it your buddy at the station or my brother.”
He curses under his breath. “I’m sorry. You were just trying to help.”
I twist, surprised to see the conflict in his warm eyes. This hot and cold game isn’t working for me.
“Better yet, I’ll do it.” I lift my phone out of my back pocket. “I think a screaming match with my brother over the bullshit he’s been feeding me is exactly what I fucking need.”
I press ignore over the seven missed calls from my friends and find Nick’s name just as my phone is swiped from my fingers.
He turns and takes three steps before turning back to me. He tosses something in the air and on instinct I reach up and capture the dangling metal.
Looking down, I find a set of car keys in my hands. My car keys.
“Hammock Academy. She starts at nine. Pick up is at three.”
Maybe it’s the scowl that persists on his face. Or maybe it’s the iciness in his voice. But I toss my car keys right back at him. “Sorry, I’ve got other plans today.” I turn and walk down the porch steps to the grassy field where a tire hangs from a tree branch. I stop and give the rope a tug.
“Hey, Nicole?” he calls.
I turn just as he tosses the keys at me again. I lift my right hand and catch them like a baseball.
He grins. “Your reflexes seem to be in order.”
“My reflexes are better than anyone in this town,” I mutter, giving the other side of the tire a tug as if I’m inspecting it for safety.
“It’s been there since Angel was eleven. I guarantee you, it’s safe.”
There it is.
That reminder. This isn’t just some man I had the tiniest of crushes on for the past two years. This is my best friend's dad. Seventeen years older, a supermodel for an ex-wife, and most definitely out of my league. Royce Collins could do way better than someone with a growing list of red flags.
