Effortless (Thoughtless, #2)(73)
I had to learn to trust him.
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We both had to learn to trust each other…and this tour was just what we needed, really. It provided an opportunity for us both to stray. I knew I wouldn’t, and I prayed that Kellan wouldn’t, but either way, we’d know for sure after this.
Anna had to go to work so she headed home, but Jenny, Rachel and I completed Kellan’s task for him. Giggling, we stuffed envelopes with thank you notes into the cracks of people’s doors. None of us wanted to knock on the doors to deliver the money personally, since we really weren’t sure about the legality of it all. We felt a little spy-like dropping off the payment money, and I started to think that this was another thing I could cross off my bucket list. At this rate, I’d complete the entire thing while Kellan was gone. Well, except for the growing old with someone I loved part…I’d need him for that one.
Luckily, Matt and Griffin’s place was backed against a greenbelt, so we only had to worry about the neighbors on either side and across the street. We were finished in no time. The last door we went to was the home of a sweet elderly lady. Jenny was trying to get the envelope to stay in the closed crack of the door when it suddenly opened.
The wrinkled woman smiled warmly at us and held her hand out for the envelope. “Ah, good, my bingo money, as promised.” Jenny and I glanced at each other and then Jenny handed over the wad of sealed cash. Taking it, the stooped woman tried to lift herself up to her full height and look over the top of us. Rachel quickly ducked down behind me, trying to hide from the woman that I was pretty sure couldn’t see farther than a few feet anyway.
“Is that good-looking boy with you?”
Shaking my head, I murmured, “No, Ma’am.” A little sadly, I added,
“He had to leave town for a while.”
The grandmother patted my arm consolingly. “Well, that’s too bad.” She leaned in to whisper, “He was very easy on the eye.” I giggled as the woman leaned back. Yes, Kellan was very easy on the eye…effortless to 204
look at. Shrugging her sagging shoulders, she added, “His bottom was very nice, too.”
Jenny snorted, then girlishly slapped her hand over her mouth. Rachel popped her head up over my shoulder and giggled at the spunky old lady.
The neighbor’s gnarled hand pointed across to where the raging party had been going until the early hours of today. “That was some celebration you all had.” Her eyes glassed over, reminiscing. “I used to tip back a few in my youth.” Shaking her head, she grinned. “It was illegal back then, so we all met underground, in secret places.” She lifted the envelope. “We had to pay people to keep the coppers away, too.” Shaking my head at her, I smiled wider. Man, she was way older than I’d anticipated. I hoped I was as put together as she was when I was in my nineties. Glancing at all of our tired faces, she squinted her graying eyes. “You all look like you’re suffering from the excess. Why don’t you come in…I have the perfect cure.”
Jenny and I looked at each other and shrugged. My headache had dialed back at lot since this morning, but it still ached and throbbed, especially when I moved my head too fast. Plus, I hadn’t dared to eat anything yet. My stomach was only mildly queasy…I didn’t want to push it over the edge. Maybe the former flapper knew a sure-fire fix. We’re always being told to listen to our elders, right? Surely that includes hangover advice.
So, the three of us spent a good chunk of the afternoon having a really horrid cup of tea with a surprisingly interesting old lady. I’d have to tell Kellan all about her when he got back. He’d get a kick out of her. I probably wouldn’t mention that she enjoyed his backside, though.
Once finished delivering the rest of our payments, I went home to get ready for work. Anna was long gone and my home was empty. Running my hand along the back of Kellan’s favorite chair, the chair he’d given me when I’d involuntarily moved out of his place, I wondered where he was now. Probably in the middle of nowhere, probably out of cell range.
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Sighing, I pushed it from my mind and went to take a nice, hot shower. After a long night of partying, I’d never felt so grimy in all my life. The ancient woman’s miracle cure kicked in once my body was cleaned and refreshed, and I amazingly felt one hundred percent better when I stepped from the shower. Better…and starving.
After quickly dressing into my work clothes and throwing my wavy locks into a haphazard pony tail, I made myself a meal fit for a Queen.
Okay, it was a bowl of spaghetti, but I was so hungry it felt like the best meal on earth going down.
Feeling full and content, more like myself, I pulled my cell phone out of my jacket and stared at it for a moment. Running my thumb over the screen, I considered trying to call Kellan. Maybe he was close enough to a large town that he could pick up a tower now. On second thought, cell towers lined practically every freeway in the world nowadays. Maybe I was wrong about him being in the middle of nowhere. Middle of nowhere didn’t really exist in our world anymore. With modern technology, you could almost always be found, anywhere you went.
But, I’d just talked to him this morning, and he had said he’d call tonight. I didn’t want to be “that girl.” The obsessing girlfriend that checked in every hour on the hour. I wanted to learn to live my live fully and completely without him, as well as with him. That was the mistake I’d made with Denny. Letting my happiness revolve around him for so long.