Saving Wishes

Saving Wishes Part 11

24. Romance Languages

An hour earlier than I needed to leave, Adam drove me to the café to collect my car. It wasn't that I wanted to leave early; I just couldn't sit still. I also needed to secure the takings from the previous day before Alex found out that I hadn't.

My beaten up little car stood alone in the car park.

"Oh, it's still here," I said, feigning melancholy.

"Did you think it wouldn't be?"

I had no qualms about leaving my car there overnight. Car thieves are fussy. If I'd left the engine running and a free-to-good-home sign on the windscreen, it still would have been there a month later.

I reached for the door handle but he pulled me back. "Adam, I have to go," I said, grabbing his wrist to stop his hand creeping any further up my shirt.

"Not for ages," he breathed, totally unremorseful.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say you were trying to keep me here."

He straightened up, grinning craftily. "You do know me, and I am trying to keep you here."

"Should I be worried about going home?" I wondered.

"Of course not," he replied, hesitating too long. "My reasons for keeping you here are purely personal."

I wasn't convinced. Picking up on my angst, he held my hand tighter than usual. "Someone incredibly smart once told me that everything works out in the end."

I looked across at him. "And if it doesn't?"

"Then it's not the end."

His grin was contagious and I smiled back. "Wise words, Adam Décarie."

"Fighting words, Charlotte Blake," he declared, sounding more American than usual.

I was halfway out of the car when I turned. "Did you mean it when you said you'd take me anywhere I wanted to go?" I asked.

He nodded but the gesture didn't match his woeful expression. I remained still, waiting for him to add something.

"Where would you like to go?"

"Back to last night, in the tent, when nothing else mattered."

Adam stared at me for a long time. I wondered if I'd said something stranger than usual. Finally he reached into the console of the car, pulling out a notebook and pen. He scrawled a few words, tore out the page, folded it and handed it to me.

"What's this?"

"Everything I know," he replied, flatly.

He couldn't have written more than a couple of sentences. I had to consider the possibility that Adam really didn't know anything. I started to unfold the paper but he stopped me.

"If you don't get the answers you need, read it then. But give Alex a chance to tell you first," he urged.

Unable to find my voice, I nodded, clenching my fist around the note.

"I love you, Charlotte." He spoke strongly, like those four words were a big bandaid for my soul.

I scurried into the café before I could change my mind about leaving.

Seeing Ethan perched near the counter wasn't unexpected. It was actually a relief. It meant Nicole was occupied and her questions would be minimal. I grabbed a calico bag from under the counter and filled it with the money from the till – just as I should have done the day before.