Page 75 of Reckless
“And likely true.”
She laughed.That sound did something to me.
Her apartment building sat three streets back from the water in a line of practical, low-key rentals that would have looked forgettable to anyone inclined to measure the world by spectacle.
I parked under a maple tree starting to throw longer shadows across the lot.The place looked like I remembered it from the first night I’d come.
She reached for the door handle in the car.
“Wait.”
Her head turned.“What now.”
“You didn’t tell me what we’re here for.”
She blinked once.She blushed and then looked away.“A different dress.”
I watched the line of her profile.
“Only a dress.”
Her fingers tightened on the handle.“And shoes.”
“Kelly.”
“What.”
“If you need twenty minutes alone, say that.”
She went still without moving at all.Then her throat moved once and she looked at me.“I need twenty minutes alone,” she said.
I nodded.“Fine.I’ll wait here.”
But she didn’t move or get out of the car.
I stilled.Something shifted in the car.She took a breath and said, quieter, “You can come up after.”
My heart sped up.I wasn’t expecting her to say that.
“Text me,” I said.
She agreed, got out, and walked toward the stairs without looking back.
I watched her go.
Her apartment lights came on upstairs about thirty seconds later.
I stayed in the car for the first five minutes.Checked email.Replied to one message Roman should have handled himself.Ignored three texts from Charlie because I preferred peace.Watched the evening turn from gold to softer blue in the lot around me.
At minute ten, I got out.
At minute twelve, I was leaning against the hood of the car with my sleeves rolled once and my attention very much not on the phone in my hand.
Kelly’s window glowed above me.
I found myself imagining the shape of the room inside.The couch.The books.The lamp by the chair.Her crossing barefoot from one part of the apartment to another with no one to witness it.Her dropping the tension from her shoulders because there was no audience left to brace against.
That image sat under my skin in a way I did not enjoy enough to call comfortable.
