Ginny just laughed. “Good for you. And good for Javi.”
Espy didn’t know what to make of that comment. As far as everyone knew, she was leaving today and not coming back. So what was good about it?
* * *
Espy’s heartached a little as she drove out of town, knowing she left behind a lot of people who needed her help, but she needed to get her clients home and prepare for her next tour. She’d left people who needed help behind before, and she’d be back in another month.
The flashing lights behind her gave her heart a jolt as she hit the highway leading north. She looked in the rearview mirror and heard the collective groan of her passengers as she slowed and pulled the van over.
Then the tension turned to joy as she recognized the stride of the officer who approached her window.
“Javi,” she whispered, and Gavin whipped his head around from his place in the passenger seat.
“Officer Hottie,” Gavin greeted him when he reached Espy’s lowered window.
Javi acknowledged the teen with a half-smile and a half-second of eye contact before turning back to Espy. “Is everything running okay?”
That was why he pulled her over? To check Tommy’s handiwork? Puzzled, she gestured to the dashboard. “So far, so good.”
“Can I, ah, talk to you out here a minute?”
She turned around to look at her passengers, who shooed their hands so vehemently that she thought they’d push her out of the car if she didn’t comply. “I’ll be right back,” she told them, and opened the door to slide out.
Javi took her hand almost immediately and drew her toward the corner of the van, slid his hand around the back of her neck and lowered his mouth to hers. She clutched his hand holding her and stretched as far as she could to meet his kiss, matching its urgency with some of her own.
“I’m going to miss you,” he said quietly, brushing his thumb over the crest of her cheek.
“What if I come back?” she asked. She hadn’t intended to say anything, had wanted to surprise him, but something about that kiss…
Delight brightened his dark eyes for a moment, then faded. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”
“I don’t do that,” she said.
He was already shaking his head. “People do it all the time.”
She wouldn’t let his words hurt her. She didn’t know if he was talking about his dad, but maybe he was. “I’m not people,” she said, a little stiffly as she stepped back, breaking their embrace. She glanced toward his cruiser and wondered if his dash cam had gotten footage of that kiss, and if it had, if she could have a copy, because damn.
But he didn’t say anything more, released her, his hand sliding down her arm to her hand, which he squeezed and released.
“Be safe out there. You were going a little over the speed limit.”
“I have time to make up,” she said, a little confused by his words. Fine, if he didn’t want to believe her. She was going to come back and make sure he knew she was coming back for him. But she didn’t think she could convince him until she was actually here.
“You be safe, too.”
Only when she was back in the van did she realize she still hadn’t gotten his number.
CHAPTER16
“What do you mean, you’re changing your whole life for this guy that you’ve known less than a week?” Angelica voice echoed off the metal walls of their office in the industrial park. She pushed her rolling chair back from her desk, like she was going to stand up, but instead folded her arms tightly over her stomach. “I thought you of all people would be more level headed when it comes to men.”
“Me of all people?” Espy’s voice squeaked out of her throat, high with surprise. “What does that mean?”
“I mean you’ve always been just yourself.” Angelica flicked her hand up and down Espy, encompassing her from head to toe. “You don’t worry about how other people see you, you do what you want. You’re an independent woman.”
Espy knew her sister wouldn’t take the news well, but her argument was puzzling. “And how does that make you feel like I’m changing my life for a man?”
“You’re moving to another state for him?” Angelica’s voice rose in pitch as she enumerated on her fingers. “You’re moving to a town where you don’t know anyone, where you don’t even have a place to live.”
