“Okay.” He dropped it on the table and studied her. “What’s wrong?”
“How long are we going to be gone, Roman?”
Was that all that was worrying her, or was there more? “We’ll be back by Friday. We can swing by and pick up your son on the way home. It’ll save you the trip back to wherever he is when he’s not with you.” Her expression altered, like a veil dropping over her face. “Is that a problem?”
“It’s not on the way.”
He’d wait. Maybe she’d trust him enough to talk about what was going on in her life. Then again, how much of his own was he willing to share? He didn’t want to talk about his past. Maybe he should. Maybe that would open her up as well. Aside from the growing attraction, something else was happening here. He didn’t want to back away this time. Why not take Jasper’s advice for a change and see what happened?
She looked ready to take the bus home.
“Try not to worry, Grace. This is more about me than you.” A lie. “I needed to get out of the studio for a while, to think.” True. “And since you told me you haven’t seen much, I thought why not see something on the way.” He’d been to Yosemite Valley and Half Dome, but he’d never gone over Tioga Pass or down to Mono Lake. “Have you ever been to Bodie?”
“Bodie?” She shook her head. “I’ve never been anywhere.”
She’d told him that. He just wanted her to remember. He’d read a few brochures in the hotel tourist information rack while waiting for her to come downstairs. “It’s a ghost town ten miles off the highway.” He spent the next few minutes telling her everything he remembered from the brochure. He was beginning to sound like a travel agent trying to sell a tour.
Grace didn’t look like she wanted him as guide. “That’s a lot of miles to cover in a couple of days.”
“We have time. Let’s enjoy the ride.”
She put her hand on the table as though bracing herself. “Why are we really on this trip, Roman?”
He let out his breath slowly and leaned back, surveying her. “I don’t know. I want more, I guess.” He smiled slightly, trying to ease the worry flickering in her eyes. “More life. I want whatever it is you have that makes you see what I miss.”
She didn’t say anything, but her face softened as she searched his. “When I started working for you, I had the distinct impression you wanted convenience without complications.”
“And you think getting to know one another would complicate our relationship?”
“I hope not.”
He hadn’t expected to feel hurt. Was she worried about what Prince Charming might think? Why was he working so hard to get close to this woman? Roman signaled the waiter.
“Ready to order, sir?”
Roman looked to Grace for an answer. Without opening the menu, she ordered a salad. Annoyed, Roman asked the waiter to give them another minute. He leaned forward. “I didn’t bring you to a steak house so you could have a dinner salad.”
She gasped. “You’re impossible.” She leaned forward, too. “It’s a waste of money to buy a steak I can’t eat.”
“Oh. You’re a vegetarian.”
“No, but I’m not a glutton either.”
At least he’d gotten a rise out of her. “Eat what you can.” He signaled the waiter again. The man approached cautiously.
Roman didn’t know where to pick up the conversation after that tirade.
She was looking at him again, but her anger had already dissipated. “You’re impossible to read. Do you know that?”
He gave a bleak laugh. “You’re telling me that?” There was something new in her expression. “What?”
She bowed her head, smoothing the napkin on her lap. “I’m not sure what you want from me.”
Neither was he, but she’d unlocked the gate. He could hear Jasper’s voice in his head. Don’t push. Wait to be invited in. He’d had only three friends growing up, all dead before they turned eighteen. The responsibility for one could be laid at his feet. Maybe that was the reason he’d never gotten close to anyone since. And never a woman. Jasper Hawley had his theories about Bobby Ray Dean’s reasons. Roman didn’t want to know.
“I’d like to find out if we can be friends.”
Grace sat at the desk in her hotel room, responding to Shanice’s text asking how the road trip was going.
He wants to find out if we can be friends.