-32-
Jessica
Something was up with Silas.
It was almost like he was nervous.
It didn’t sit well with me and in fact, it made me nervous too.
I kept asking him if he was alright but he just looked at me like I was crazy and assured me he was fine. There was something going on but he wasn’t ready to tell me. I had no choice but to let it go. Which wasn’t easy. Come on, whenever something went right in my life it always seemed to get ripped apart. How could I not think the same thing was going to happen with this? I was happy and that wasn’t something I got to be.
“I know this cute little shopping area,” he said as I saw him veer to the right and take the off-ramp. “How about we get some lunch and find some new duds?”
“Duds? Did you just saydudslike it was a cool thing?” I asked with a giggle.
“Hey, it is cool.I’mcool.”
“Yeah, okay, grandpa. Yeah, I’m up for it. Maybe we can hit up agin jointlater on andcut a rugto the latest band.”
“You’re making fun of me?” The tone of his question told me that he knew I was.
“Yeah, I am.”
“I’ll remember this,” he said as a playful threat.
“I’m sure you will,” I said as I leaned over the console and placed a light kiss on his cheek.
He wove his way around like he knew where he was going. I wondered how many times he’d been here before. He must have known this city well.
“Come on,” he said after he parked and kissed the back of my hand like he didn’t want to let it go.
Yeah, I needed some new clothes. I didn’t really have anything.
We ate at this cute little sandwich shop that was tucked down an alleyway. The fact that he knew it was there was further proof that he was familiar with this area.
Then he told me it was time to hit a few stores to look for clothing.
So the problem was that I had like no money. I could use my debit card now that all this stuff had gotten cleared up but I hadn’t been working. I had a little saved up but again, I wasn’t working, so I didn’t want to deplete that if I didn’t have to.
Never mind the fact that I had a condo to sell now too. I didn’t want that money, so I wasn’t even going to count it.
But I needed clothes.
Though I was sure Silas wouldn’t mind me going around naked all the time. He pretty much stripped me down the moment he got me behind closed doors. Hey, I wasn’t complaining.
“Jessica?” he asked as his hand landed on my shoulder. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, sorry,” I said with a little shake of my head. “Can I borrow your phone so I can check my balance?”
“No,” he said with a smile as his hand slipped into mine and he pulled me along. “Today is on me. I know it’s quite selfish of me given that I’m going to need to see you try on everything you pick out.” He pulled me closer so he could whisper in my ear. “And that includes any lingerie that might happen to catch your eye.”
He pulled away and winked at me.
“You are horrible,” I said as my hand met his chest with a playful slap.
He stopped, turning to face me as he lost a little bit of the playfulness in his eyes.
“Let me do this for you, please. I don’t want you to worry about a thing today. Okay?”
