Lip Service (Private Relations 2)

Groaning, Chloe said, “This weekend has gone by so quickly. This upcoming week is going to be stupid busy for me.”

“Yeah. I’m going to be in Phoenix Wednesday through Friday,” he said.

“Eww. It’s going to be hot as hell,” Chloe said.

As they walked out of the lobby, and headed to the car, she asked, “Do you like the travel?”

“Sometimes, I do. It gets a bit old living out of a suitcase. I miss my bed,” Chris said.

“You get to go to some good places too, though, right?” she asked.

“Yeah. In a couple weeks I’m heading down to San Diego. Ya know, I was actually thinking about staying for the weekend. You should see if you can take Friday off. We could leave Thursday in the evening, drive down. I obviously have a meeting on Friday, but we could hang out all weekend. Drive back up Sunday?”

“Tempting offer. Two weeks? I’ll check my schedule. I’ve never been,” she said.

Once they were both in the car, he blinked at her and asked, “Really? You’ve lived here like ten years.”

“School, work, school, work, school. When do I have time to travel?” she asked.

“Good point. Try to make the time. You’d really like Coronado, I think.”

Smiling, she said, “It’s been a while since I’ve taken any time. I can probably swing it. I’ll text you tomorrow and let you know.”

By the time they made it back to his place, Chloe had to head straight home. She had come over on Friday night, and hadn’t gone home since. He was surprised to find that he not only didn’t want space, but he was actually missing her already.

Chapter 13

Tuesday evening, Chloe was stretched out on Chris’s bed. She’d come over after work with takeout. After their meal, they’d moved into the bedroom so he could pack for his trip to Phoenix. He methodically moved from his dresser and closet to the suitcase, then back again.

“Wow,” she said, “It looks like you’ve gotten this whole packing thing down to a science.”

Grimacing, he said, “Yeah. I really wish I didn’t though.”

Her hand propped up on her chin, she said, “It’s a necessary evil for work though, right?”

“It is,” he agreed. “I just hate the initial meetings, mostly. It feels like I’m being trotted out as the company’s token athlete. People say things like, ‘Tough break about the knee,’ and proceed to ask me ridiculously personal questions about it. It gets old.”

“Of course it would. That’s fucking rude.”

Snorting now, Chris said, “No kidding.”

“At least,” Chloe said, pausing to choose her words carefully, “once they actually speak with you a little bit, they realize you’re much more than that. You’re too good at what you do for them to not see it.”

Continuing now, seeing that he’d stopped packing to look at her, she said, “They probably feel a bit embarrassed. It’s really shortsighted to look at someone and expect there to be nothing but some shit that happened over a decade ago. Your past may open some doors, but you’re still the one that gets to walk through them.”

Walking toward the bed, he leaned down and brushed his lips over hers and said, “Thank you.”

“Any time,” she said, smiling.

Straightening back up, he moved toward the bathroom. A moment later, he came back out, carrying a toiletry kit. He placed it in the suitcase, and then zipped it up.

Moving the suitcase, he said, “And, done.”

Smiling, Chloe said, “Oh! I was able to take next Friday off if you still wanted to do that.”

“Oh, good. You’re okay with staying all weekend? Or are you going to have school stuff due?” he asked.

“I’ll wrap it up during the week. It’ll be great to get away and relax.”