Hard to parent Callie and work out some schedule that they were both satisfied with.
“God, I think I’m getting drunk,” she said, rubbing her temple and sitting up.
“Lightweight.” He pulled himself up too.
“Guilty.” She laughed.
Evan stood, obviously reading correctly that she needed some space. “I should go. How about I pick you up for breakfast tomorrow at nine, and we’ll head to the antique dealer? See if he remembers anything?”
“Sure. That sounds good.” As unlikely as that was. It’d been almost a decade. Who knew if her father had dealt with a person who was still employed there, or still alive, for that matter. And if he or she was, how slim a chance was it that they’d remember someone who came to the shop so long ago?
She walked Evan to the door and pulled it open. “Thanks for coming with me to the storage place,” she said. “I appreciated that.”
“I’m the one who’s grateful you’re here,” he said. “Thank you, Noelle.”
She nodded, giving him a small smile. “See you in the morning.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
The next morning, Evan pulled on his seat belt and then allowed his eyes to linger as Noelle was focused on belting herself in too. She was so casually beautiful in jeans and a navy tank top, hair in a loose braid, little makeup. And all he could think as he looked at her was that he itched to take her back up to the hotel room and spend a few hours in bed. God help him; he didn’t want to want that, but he did. She was sexy as hell to him, which was sort of an epiphany. He’d half convinced himself that those feelings were all mired in that unhealthy bond Professor Vitucci had talked about, and so to find that he still felt that intensity, minus any current trauma, sent him for a loop. But he shut that thought down. There was no way Noelle would participate in some brief affair, and truth be told, the thought of that left a bad taste in his mouth too. They shared a child. It would be foolhardy to complicate the amicable rapport they’d managed to find despite . . . everything. And that word encompassed a whole hell of a lot.
He’d watched her at breakfast as she’d spoken about Callie, telling him about their FaceTime call from the night before. Her whole face lit up when she talked about their daughter, and it made him smile. They were going to have to discuss what things would look like regarding Callie moving forward, and he was grateful Noelle seemed open to that, but for now, the leads they’d obtained from her father’s notebook took priority.
Not Callie, not yet. She was safe and happy in South Carolina. And definitely not taking an afternoon to figure out whether they were still as combustible in bed as they’d once been—not that she necessarily had any interest in that whatsoever. After all these years, they might have a small break. Maybe. And that was the focus here and the purpose of her trip.
“Do you have an office?” Noelle asked when he’d pulled away from the curb, breaking him from his turbulent thoughts. “Or do you work from home?”
“I rent a space that’s somewhat close to the shop we’re going to. I used to work solely from home, but it’s never a great idea to invite clients to the place you live. Especially if they end up being disgruntled former clients.”
She laughed softly, turning his way. “Have many of those?”
He shrugged, shooting her a smile. “Not since I stopped dealing with cheating spouses.”
She laughed but then gave a dramatic cringe. “You used to stake out hotel rooms, trying to get a money shot through the drapes?”
“Luckily, that particular scenario never played out. But let me say this—people do really tawdry things when they’re sneaking around. And they don’t always bother with a hotel room.”
“Tawdry. Oh, I bet.” She grinned.
They chatted a little about his job and the police departments he worked with, and it was easy and comfortable. He realized they’d never really interacted like this, and he enjoyed the hell out of it. He enjoyed her. He’d forgotten how much. Although maybe he’d never had a chance to figure that out, as they’d spent the majority of their time getting to know each other under horrendous circumstances, and then there had been suffering in the aftermath. It was hard to fully enjoy someone—or anything, for that matter—when you were struggling to put the pieces of yourself back together. She was funny and quick and laughed easily. He supposed this side of her had always existed. And if she’d lost it completely for a time, she’d obviously taken it back.