She grabbed a cute cross-body purse and stood at her kitchen counter, changing the items over from the backpack bag she had taken to work.
Now, she paced in front of her small front window overlooking the street. As several SUVs and trucks came down the road, it dawned on her that she had no idea what he would be driving. Huffing, she looked down at her phone and started to send him another text.
Just then, she spied a midsize SUV expertly parallel parking down the street from her front door. It pulled into a space that she would never have been able to maneuver into. She was so focused on the parking job, she jolted when she saw Kyle climb from the driver’s seat. She threw open her front door as he was approaching and said, “I’m sorry you had to park. I was planning on just running out.”
He stood at the bottom of her steps and looked up, his gaze roving from the top of her head down to her feet and back up again. She blushed under his perusal but, from the look on his face, it was evident she had chosen her outfit well.
“If you’d just run out to the street, I would’ve been robbed of the chance to stand here and admire you like this.”
Shaking her head and rolling her eyes, she inwardly preened at his words as she locked her front door. His hand reached out and she linked fingers, walking beside him as he escorted her to his SUV. Once inside, her gaze scanned the interior. While it didn’t smell like a brand-new car, it was very clean and showed no signs of wear and tear. As soon as he climbed back into the driver’s seat, she asked, “Is this new?”
“It’s only a few months old. I’ve got a pickup truck that’s a clunker and use it for work. I never know where I might get called to and some of the places I go are pretty rough. I don’t want to take this vehicle to a crack house.”
Her eyes widened. “Yeah. I can see where you wouldn’t.” Unable to think of anything else to say at his mention of a crack house, she sat silent for a moment.
“You okay, babe?”
“I guess I hadn’t really thought very much about where your job takes you. I know that’s foolish, but I hate to think of you being in danger.”
“Does my job bother you?”
With an emphatic shake of her head, she said, “No. You’re a lot braver than I am, but I do hate the idea that you’re in danger.”
“I’m good at what I do.”
With her head leaned back, she rolled it to the side to peer at him and waited.
“I don’t take undue risks. I know what I’m doing when I go into a situation. And, while anything can happen at any time, I am good at what I do, Kimberly.”
By now, they had pulled onto a small side street where he executed another perfect parking maneuver. “Are you like a parallel parking guru?”
Now it was his turn to twist around and stare at her. “What?”
“I know how to parallel park my little car, especially on my street. But, even then, I’m sometimes a foot away from the curb or I bump my tire onto the curb.”
“Do you really want to know the truth?”
“Of course.”
“I had a driver’s ed teacher in high school that must’ve lived on one of these rowhouse streets. He was determined that every single kid he taught how to drive knew how to parallel park. I swear I think we did it for a solid week. He was a pain in the ass, but by the end of the week, I could parallel park. Been doing it ever since.”
"Hmm, I think my driver’s ed teacher must’ve skipped that lesson.”
Barking out a laugh, he climbed from behind the wheel and walked around the front, assisting her down. Bending, he kissed her lightly and said, “By the way, you’re beautiful tonight.”
Smiling, she squeezed his fingers before looking around, not recognizing where they were. Following his lead as he held her hand, they turned the corner at the end of the block, and she spied a large red awning extending from a small storefront. Chino’s Pizza was written in script on the awning. “Chino’s?”
“Ever heard of it?”
She shook her head. “Is it good?”
“Babe, would I bring you on a date to a place that didn’t have good food?”