I stepped aside, giving the car plenty of room to ease into the empty spot between a classic red pickup and a gray late-model SUV.
Inside the Lincoln was Clint along with Cash, who looked positively tickled to be riding shotgun in the passenger's seat. When the car stopped, both of them got out through the driver's side door, and Clint looked to me with a grin. "So, what do you think of the duffle?"
"The duffle?" I glanced around but saw no sign of a bag. "Sorry, I'm not following."
"The coat," he said. "That's what it's a called. A duffle." He winked. "Pretty fancy, huh?"
Next to him, Cash gave his usual yip of agreement.
I laughed. "Sorry, I didn't know it had a name." My face warmed as I thought of how handsome Drake looked – and not only because of the coat. "But yeah. The duffle's pretty awesome."
Clint gave his grandson a secret glance that wasn't so secretive. "Sometimes, you wanna put your best foot forward. Am I right?"
Drake gave an embarrassed laugh. "Sure Gramps."
After saying our goodbyes, Drake and I headed out in the gray SUV. As Drake drove us through the neighborhood, I suddenly realized that we would be driving by my aunt's place.
This wasn't good.
When Drake turned onto her street, I ducked low in the passenger's seat.
Drake gave me a long sideways glance, but said nothing.
And now I felt like an idiot – but not enough to sit up straighter. "Sorry," I whispered. "I don't mean to be weird."
He gave me a funny look. "So why are you whispering?"
"Was I?" I tried to laugh. "Sorry. It's just that Harper'salreadyon the warpath."
He frowned. "Because of me?"
"Well…notjustyou. It's this thing with her sister, too. Harper's really worried, and it's making her a little crazy. Plus Lexie spends a ton of time looking out through the front window, which is making Harpermorecrazy, so it's all getting kind of strange, you know?"
His mouth tightened. "Yeah. I know."
Something about the way he said it made me stiffen with concern. Still, I waited until we'd passed Aunt Celia's place before sitting up with a huge sigh of relief.
But when I looked at Drake, he appeared anything but relieved.
When he saw me looking, he asked, "I'm guessing that's the reason you didn't want me to pick you up?"
"You mean today?" I said. "Yeah, that's part of it. But I reallydidwant to get some fresh air. And your house is only a short walk away."
"It's notthatshort," he said. "It's a half-mile at least."
"But that's nothing," I said. "And it's not like it's windy out."
When his only reply was a skeptical look, I searched desperately for a change of subject and finally landed on a question I'd meant to ask earlier. "So who's Murphy?"
Chapter 23
Drake
I knew what she was doing, and normally, I'd let it slide. But I wasn't the kind of guy to sneak around, and the factshewas sneaking, well, it wasn't sitting right in my gut.
I asked, "Is that your way of changing the subject?"
She gave an awkward laugh. "I thought we were done talking about… well, the other thing."
