His chest rumbled. “Oh, darlin’, I can think of a lot of things.”
“Is that so,” she answered, her husky voice full of sex and dark chocolate. “You’ll have to let me know what they are when you’re back.” She paused. “I mean, I guess I shouldn’t assume…”
“I’m coming back.” As the Stones had said, Wild Horses wouldn’t keep him away. “I just don’t know when.”
“So your family is okay? Is everything all right?”
There was so much he wanted to tell her, but it didn’t feel right to explain it all over the phone. “It’s complicated. One of my cousins is in trouble and right now, we’re just waiting on news. It might not end well.”
“Oh Rick, I’m so sorry. I’ll say a prayer.”
“You don’t strike me as the religious type, but I’ll take anything that I can get.”
“I’m not religious, not in the traditional sense anyway, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t have faith. This might sound corny, but I believe that all things happen for a reason. Even the awful things. And when we’re at our lowest, faith is what gets us through. Faith can be whatever version of God you believe in, or it can be as simple as the belief that all of us are connected.”
Would this woman ever stop surprising him? “Thanks for that. I appreciate the thought.”
“No problem,” she said softly.
“There’s a lot you don’t know about me,” he began.
“Oh my God. You are a serial killer.”
He laughed. “That would still be a no.”
“You have been in jail.”
“Again, no.”
“Rick, it’s all good. I don’t need to know your family’s darkest secrets.”
He frowned, chest tight as the realization hit him square in the chest. “Thing is, Charlie,” he murmured. “I want you to know everything.”
For a few moments there was silence and then she cleared her throat.
“You know where I am,” she said softly. “I’ll be waiting.” She paused. “And thinking.”
He shook his head and grinned. “Thinking about what?”
“IT.”
“IT.” Hot damn—the images that sprang to mind.
“Yes, IT.” She giggled.
“I’m glad I got to hear your voice. It’s made things better.”
“Glad I could help,” she whispered into the phone. “And Rick?”
“Yeah.”
A heartbeat passed. “I…” Her voice trailed off and for a few seconds, there was nothing but silence.
“I know,” he said, clearing his throat. “I’ll call you when I know more.”
“Okay. No worries. I gotta run though. Connor needs dinner and leftovers aren’t going to cut it tonight.”
“See you soon,” he said, thinking that perhaps he should have said more. But what did you say to someone you were in an undefined relationship with?