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“It would just be a precaution.” When she shrugged, I knew I had her. “I’ll even get coffee for the road.”
“What else?”
“For the road?”
She nodded.
“Um…” I’d already delivered the gyro salad; that wouldn’t be good in the morning, anyway. “Yogurt with granola and fruit.”
“Okay.”
“Okay, you’ll ride with me tomorrow?”
She covered her mouth with her hand, yawned, and nodded.
“Goodnight, Ali,” I said, walking over and standing right in front of her. “We’ll leave at six. That will give me time to look at your car before I have to be at the courthouse.”
“You don’t have to do this.”
“I want to.” She looked dead-on-her-feet tired and so fucking beautiful I wanted to pick her up, carry her into the bedroom, and…tuck her in.
“Stop looking at me like that.”
I smiled. “Like what?”
“You know.” Ali took a step to the side and walked around me. “Goodnight, Cope.”
I got on the elevator, feeling like I’d just won some kind of prize. Why did I feel so elated when I was the one doing her a favor?
The next morning, when I got in the car after Ali did, I wished I hadn’t brought coffee. She smelled so damn good when she stood next to me while I unlocked the passenger door and opened it for her. It wasn’t perfume; it was just her. The smell of coffee, though, overpowered the smell of her. I smiled and rolled my eyes, remembering the conversation we’d had the night before.
“Last chance if you want to change your mind about our bet.”
“No, thanks.”
I pointed to the two stainless steel travel mugs of coffee sitting in the holders. “One’s black, one has cream and sugar.”
“Which one is yours?”
“Whichever one you don’t want.”
She picked up the one closest to her, opened the lid, closed it, and took a sip.
“Black, huh?”
“I don’t like sugar in my coffee.”
“Noted.”
She turned her head away and looked out the window. “I doubt it’s knowledge you’ll need in the future.”
“There’s food in a bag on the back seat,” I said as I pulled out of the garage and onto the street. This early in the morning, it would only take us a little over an hour to get to the area where the garage and courthouse were. My guess was it would take me thirty minutes to switch out her battery. The courthouse didn’t open until nine, so we might have time to kill.
“Everything okay?” I asked when we’d been on the road for a half hour and she hadn’t said anything.
“It’s nice to be able to look at the scenery. This is a prettier drive than the one back yesterday.”
“This is my favorite way to go when I have time.”