She looks behind me as if she’s only just noticing Lewis for the first time.
“Thanks for coming, Lewis. I’m actually really glad you’re here. Do you know where he is?”
“Sure, he’s back home now. He text me around seven this morning,” he says, pulling out his cell.
“Do you know where he lives?” She asks, sounding hopeful.
“No but I can ask him?” He phrases it like a question.
“You can’t just ask him where he lives outright,” I say, rolling my eyes. Men.
He looks bemused.
“She’s right, can you not say he left something at your garage? He was there right?” She questions him.
“Err, yeah, but he’d know if he left anything, it’s not like we carry around the kitchen sink in our purses.” I shoot him a look and he smirks. “But… I could say I found some old photos I want to send him?”
Sam claps her hands and I smile at her enthusiasm, she’s finally doing something for herself for once in her life.
“So what’s the plan?” I ask, as Lewis texts away on his phone.
“Well, I guess drive to him and see what happens,” she says, a tremor in her voice.
She starts to look a little nervous so I squeeze her shoulder trying to reassure her everything will be okay.
“Road trip?” I ask excitedly, slotting my arm through hers as we walk toward the exit of the hospital.
We’ve never done anything like this before but she dashes my hopes with her next words. “Sorry, Kee. I think this is something I need to do alone. Plus, we need you here to look after the salon, we can’t both be out.”
“Way to ruin my fun, Sam, I think we both need a vacay,” I say, pouting.
She giggles. “We do. When I get back we’ll book something, I promise.”
We both wave goodbye to Lewis as he heads toward his Harley with the promise that he’ll meet us at the salon.
Just the sound of it coming to life makes my heart ache and I decide it might be time to invest in one of my own. I make a mental note to ask Lewis about the best place to get one later on.
“He really likes you, Kee,” Sam says as we pull out of the hospital car park.
I shake my head. “He thinks he does, but we’d never work out.”
“You don’t know that,” she admonishes.
“Yeah, I really do. He’s too nice, a guy like that deserves a girl that can give him lovey dovey romance shit, and that ain’t me.”
“I think he needs a little fire in his life,” she states, looking out of the window.
I ignore her comment. “I’ll ring around the clients you have booked in for the week, and book them in with me if they’ll let me.” I try to keep the bitter tone out of my voice, but her face screws up so I know she detected it. “If they won’t, they can kiss my-”
“Kee.”
“Fine! I’ll be nice, I’ll just tell them I’m not sure when you’ll be back but we’ll let them know as soon as we know,” I say in a voice laced with the sweetest sugar you’ve ever had.
She snorts. “You really are a piece of work, Keeley Michaels.”
I smirk at her comment. “Yeah, but I’m your piece of work.”
She laughs and I relish in the sound of it. We have fun together, but it’s never easy breezy like this. Connor is good for her, I can feel it in my bones, if I didn’t I wouldn’t be driving her home right now. She’s the only person I care about more than myself. I’d do anything to protect her.
Lewis is already waiting for us outside the salon door when we get back. I’ve hardly stopped when Sam dives out the car and runs into the salon, turning back toward me as she tests the handle. “Kee, did you forget to lock the door?”
I shake my head thinking back to leaving this morning, I remember locking it specifically because I felt that uneasy feeling at not being able to just go straight to my car.
“I could’ve sworn I locked it. Sorry, Sammy. Nothing’s missing is it?”
“You guys stay here,” Lewis says, stepping inside.
I pull him back by his shirt. “We’re perfectly capable of defending ourselves thank you very much, macho man.”
“Well if you’d humor a guy, I’d just like to make sure everything is alright first,” he says sarcastically, staring me down.
Sam holds back a laugh and coughs instead. I can’t help the smile that lifts at my mouth so I don’t say anything, I just nod as my smile gets wider. Sam giggles. “What’s so funny?” I narrow my eyes at her, daring her to say something.
“Oh, nothing.”
She winks at me before turning her attention to the salon door as Lewis pops his head out. “Well, it seems everything is fine here, ladies.”
He gestures for us to go in and I roll my eyes as I push past him and make my way upstairs. Sam starts filling a duffle bag with clothes and to say I’m nervous for her, is an understatement. Lewis still hasn’t gotten a text back from Connor to say where he lives, and I don’t want her to get her hopes up that he’ll even text back.
“Wait!” I hear her say from the other room, and I finish collecting her toothbrush and some other toiletries before going to see what all the fuss is about “Woah!” She exclaims.