Off Limits(38)

I could hear him chuckle, but again, there was that sense of something different that I'd felt when I saw him smile the time I'd given him my phone number. It was like I was listening to a stranger, and not the guy I'd dated five years earlier. Most disturbing, though, was that whoever Chris had become, he wasn't exactly someone I was interested in. "I'm doing well. I just closed a pretty big investment property deal and was looking to celebrate. I was thinking of getting together with some people, and wondered if you'd like to come with me. Nothing major, it's not a date or anything, but just a bit of a party out at the site of the deal."

"Oh? What sort of site?" I asked, curious if nothing else. It wasn't that I didn't like Chris. I just wasn't interested in him. Besides, while it’d require my lying to Daddy, seeing Dane would be worth it.

"I just closed the deal on a housing development on Blalock Reservoir," Chris said. "It's a little south of Atlanta, near Jonesboro. Do you know it?"

"I've been down there a few times," I said honestly. It had been years, but Daddy had taken me down there to do some fishing, just for fun. "It's a nice little area. I think the last time I was down there, we went to Lake Spivey. That's nearby, right?"

"Right. Well, we just signed a deal with the Clayton County Water Authority that's going to allow us to put in a whole development down there. The land actually already has a lake house. That's where the party's going to be."

My idea started to sound more and more plausible, and I couldn't help it. I smiled. "Sounds like fun. When's the party going to be?"

My smile must have come through in my voice, because Chris sounded a lot more excited than he had at the beginning of the call. "Saturday at noon. What do you say?"

Wild hope flared in my chest, and I answered quickly. "I'll see what I can do. Can you text me directions? Daddy's been a bit protective, and he's not going to like a man coming around the house and calling on me right now."

"That sounds like the Patrick I remember. Okay, I'll send them to you. And bring your swimsuit if you’d like. I think someone's going to bring their boat, and there might be some tubing at least."

“I might do that. See you later, Chris."

"See you later, Abby. Bye."

I headed toward my car when I heard Shawnie call my name. I turned around, waving. "Hey, Shawnie! What're you doing here? I thought your last class was yesterday."

My friend came closer, shaking her head, the long ringlet curls of her hair bouncing with every motion. "You're right, but did you really think I was going to let you defend your capstone without me at least checking on you? Besides, in the last week I've barely seen you. At least, not without a parental shadow. How're you doing?"

I took out my car keys and unlocked the door. "Tell you what: we can talk while I give you a ride back to your place or something. I owe you that much after The Nook.”

"I'll always take a free ride," Shawnie said, going around and climbing into the passenger seat. She hissed when her mostly-bare legs hit the dark leather seats of the Camaro that I'd gotten as a high school graduation present, and I noticed she was wearing kinda short shorts. She pulled her knees up and rubbed the backs of her legs. "I keep forgetting about these damn seats.”

"Don't worry, my A/C is super blasting," I replied, turning on the engine and cranking the cold air. Within seconds, we could already feel a difference, and I put my car into reverse and backed out of my parking spot. "Hey, I just had a call and a crazy idea, and I was wondering if I could run it past you."

"Go ahead, I love crazy ideas. The Wright Brothers were batshit insane for their day," Shawnie said, slowly lowering her legs to the leather with a contented sigh. "After all, so were a lot of the most famous aeronautical engineers."

I was stunned for a second, not sure what the hell to say to that, when I just waved it off. “Well, I just got a call from Chris Lake. You remember the name, right?"

Shawnie nodded as I turned right and headed north toward her apartment. "Yeah, your ex-boyfriend who also knows Dane, and you ran into a little while back. By the way, you're beginning to sound like a soap opera with this love life of yours. What's up with him?"

"Well, he invited me to a lake party this Saturday, and I was kind of thinking of doing a little rope-a-dope. Shawnie, I've really got to see Dane, but with Daddy all up in my business, I need some help."

Shawnie grinned and tapped a quick beat on the dashboard of my car in front of her. "I like it. What's your idea?”



* * *



When Daddy got home from the office that night, he found me relaxing in the TV room, stretched out on the couch. He gave me a smile, something that I hadn't realized I missed until we went days without his being anything but angry at me. "Well now, Abby girl, how did it go?"

"I'll find out in two days. But I think it went really well. If it did as well as I think, I'll be sure to get into the GT Master's program. Also, I had an interesting phone call."

"Oh?" Daddy said, unable to contain his excitement. He had always been supportive of my academic pursuits, as he felt that education was the key to a better life than what he'd built. "And what was that?"