I stare at her perfect ass ahead of me as I follow.
***
Her mother is dressed in slacks and a blouse, looking ready to go. She’s made enough breakfast food to feed an army platoon. Pancakes, bacon, eggs, fried potatoes, fried tomatoes, a half a loaf of bread toasted, even though there’s just us three.
She catches Carly and I holding hands and just fucking beams.
“Mornin’ Mrs. Adler.”
“Aiden! How did you sleep? Was the pull-out okay?”
“The…?” I frown. Pull-out? What the---?
“The sofa bed?”
Carly’s face goes red and her eyes go big at the potential pun and my reaction to it.
“Oh, I had an excellent sleep. No problems.”
She smiles.
That bar in my back really did fuckin’ suck, but I had Carly sleeping on me and for that, I’d consider sleeping on cement. She’s a cuddler. I like it.
I eat breakfast while she runs and gets dressed in yesterday’s clothes. She offers me a new toothbrush and the shower. I accept the toothbrush but tell her I’ll get a shower when I get back.
They tell me they have to go, but will see me soon as they have to go get her dad. And I’m a little uncertain about being here when the man gets home. If it were me, I certainly wouldn’t want some dude in my house meeting me at less than my best.
I call Joshua, figuring he can meet me somewhere else, maybe a coffee shop I’ll go find on foot or something, and he answers and tells me he’s less than ten minutes out, that he left earlier and missed traffic.
I call her. She’s only left five minutes ago, hurrying out awkwardly without kissing me because her mother was right there.
“Hello?”
“Peaches, hey. I’ll be gone when you get back. Joshua’s almost here.”
“Oh. Okay. If you just twist the lock on the doorknob for the kitchen door, then, that’ll lock it.”
“No problem.”
“I… thank you for getting me here.”
“You said that already, Carly. You’re welcome.”
“Oh. Okay.” She’s holding the phone.
“Didn’t get to kiss you,” I mutter.
“Oh. Yeah.”
“Wanted to sneak you outside when you got back so I could make out with you against the side of your house. Make the neighbors jealous.”
She laughs. “They would’ve been so jealous.”
“So, I’ve asked Alice to take care of your flight back to San Diego for some time tomorrow. Text her when you get back, she’ll likely have it sorted by then. I’ll leave your bags in the kitchen here.”
“Thanks, Aiden.”
“Tomorrow night, back at the condo then…”