“Damn it,” he said under his breath and reluctantly followed.
The front door was shut. He didn’t see any broken glass anywhere that would indicate forced entry. They stayed along the perimeter of the yard until they reached the chain link fence that surrounded her back yard. He moved forward, wanting to take the lead. “Here, stay behind me.”
She didn’t look at him, but instead unhooked the gate and stepped forward.
He should have tied her up with the seatbelt.
“I don’t see anything,” she whispered after they looked around. He had to agree. No signs of anything out of the ordinary.
“I’d ask you to give me the keys so I can go in and check out the place, but I have a feeling I’d be wasting my time.”
She grinned at him, then bounded up the steps to the deck. A few minutes later, they were both convinced no one had entered the house, or if they had, nothing was taken or disturbed.
Allie glanced at her cell phone and groaned, apparently brought back to reality. “Oh, crapola. I’ve got to hurry, or I’m going to be late for that party. I hope I can catch Laney before she heads over. I need a ride.”
“I have some time on my hands, if you need a ride.” Sam’s aunt was coming over this afternoon to visit with his mother, something he’d learned she did on a daily basis, playing card games to stave off the boredom. She would be in good hands. His own boredom, on the other hand… “Where can I drop you?”
“No. You’ve done enough. Besides, it’s clear out in Riverton. It would take almost half an hour to drive there.”
“I don’t mind.”
She put her cellphone to her ear and held up a finger. He decided to check out the boxes still sitting on the kitchen table while he waited.
“Darn. Voicemail.” She left a brief message, followed by a text.
He pulled out four unmarked tapes. “Do you even have a VCR to play these things?”
“With a six year old? Are you kidding? I have a DVD/VCR combo for Violet’s old Dora the Explorer collection.” She glanced down when her phone chirped. “Crap.”
“Problem?”
“Laney’s already there.”
“I told you I’d be happy to drop you off.”
She chewed her bottom lip and concentrated on something over his shoulder for a few seconds, then sighed heavily. “Guess I don’t really have much choice. Okay.”
“Wow. Your gratitude is overwhelming.”
She had the grace to look embarrassed. “Sorry. You’re right. Thank you. It’s just…well, you saw Laney’s reaction to you. I just don’t want to cause a scene.”
He made a face. “No scenes. It’ll be fine.”
She looked relieved. “I have to go get ready, but feel free to pop those in the VCR. It’s in the front room, in th
e media cabinet.”
It wasn’t difficult to find and operate the old VCR/DVD combo, and soon he had a tape in and ready to watch. He sat back on the couch, a remote in his hand so he could fast forward.
Behind the closed door where Allie had disappeared, the water turned on. He blinked. She must be in the shower.
Naked. And wet.
Ah, hell. He so did not need that image in his head. Not when he’d resolved that nothing could—should—happen between them.
He tried to keep busy, scanning through a couple of the VHS tapes that ended up being nothing more than video covering the highlights from the school’s swim team in ‘89 and ‘90 and the school production of You Can’t Take It With You from ‘92.
All the while, he tried not to imagine what Allie was doing in the shower. Or wishing he could do it to her instead.