When his phone belched out the wheezing TARDIS chime at ten o’clock to signal the end of their night, Axel wished time hadn’t passed so quickly. As everyone packed up and headed out, Axel took his time and noticed Skye wasn’t in a hurry to leave, either.
“Oh, here’s your dice.” She handed them back.
“Thanks.”
“I’ll pick up a couple of sets.”
“No worries. You, you know, you can use mine. I have plenty.”
She stared up at him with those fern green eyes he’d been madly in love with for a brief time when they were kids. “Thanks.”
They spoke at the same time. “So, listen—”
They laughed. “You first.”
More laughter, and Axel realized they were alone in the room now. He could hear the others talking in the hall, making their way toward the entry.
Axel got it out. “Go ahead.”
She sucked on her lower lip. He wanted to help her, but managed not to lean in. “Would you like to go out and have dinner or something sometime?” she asked.
“Friday?”
“I can’t Friday or Saturday. I have…a prior commitment.”
His heart tightened. “Ah.” That would be his dumb luck, if he missed a connection with her by days.
“How about Thursday? Or Sunday?” she suggested.
He didn’t want to wait until Sunday. “Thursday would be great.”
She offered him a bright smile he suspected might be his undoing. Unlocking her phone, she handed it to him. “We’d have had a lot more interesting times if we’d had cell phones when we were kids.”
He remembered nights talking on the phone to her, the cordless handset from the living room carried to his room for privacy. “Yeah.” He entered his number, as well as his address and e-mail, and returned it to her. “We would have.”
She texted him. “There’s mine.”
They stared at each other for a long moment.
“I missed you, too,” he quietly said. Then Darryl returned to the room to help tidy up and anything Axel might have said next locked in his throat.
They walked out together. Her Lexus was a lot nicer than his Toyota.
“Nice car.”
“Yeah, one of the few perks of my prenup.” She opened the back driver’s door and set her stuff on the floor. “Sonofabitch had to give me a brand new car. His stupid family runs a string of dealerships up there, so it’s not like it was a hardship or something.”
“Ah.”
“Trust me, I couldnothave afforded this if I’d had to pay for it.” She patted the roof. “But it’s mine, free and clear. Hopefully I won’t have any repair expenses for a while. Consider it a war trophy.” He hated how her expression turned somber. “Felt like that sometimes. A war.”
Before he could respond, she hugged him hard. He couldn’t hug her back as well as he wished he could, because of the messenger and laptop bags slung over his shoulders. He didn’t want them to swing around and whack her in the side.
“I guess I’m parking a couple of people in. I’d better get going. Text me what time and where on Thursday. I’m usually home from work by five thirty.”
“Okay.” He stepped back as she got in. He had been parked in by her, but he hadn’t thought to stop and dump his stuff in the car first because he’d been too willing to have even a few extra seconds of time with her.
You’re an idiot. What’s she going to want withyouafter all these years?
