Page 42 of Playing Along

His face flushes and his jaw tightens. I’ve upset him.

I don’t feel good about it. But also, it’s for the best. Right?

“It didn’t cost anything,” he replies, his voice hard and low. “Charlie here is an old friend of my dad’s from the force. He does this for fun now that he’s retired, and he once told me that if I ever wanted a ride with a lady friend it would be on the house. So I called him while you were out here with Emily and Lucy getting that veil.”

“Oh,” is all I say in response. What else can I say? I refuse to gush about how special and thoughtful this gesture is. See prior inner dialogue about not blurring lines.

“We don’t have to go if you don’t want to,” he says. His shoulders are slumped.

I hate it.

Hate that I blew out the light that is Jack Reynolds.

But listen, what else am I supposed to do? Just let that light shine, burning me down in the process? I already cried at our courthouse wedding, for goodness sake!

This has to end.

Although…it would be super weird for Jack’s new wife to turn down a horse-drawn carriage ride with him. What would all of his friends think? I peer inside the carriage. It’s spacious enough for me to sit on one side and him to sit on the other. We can take this ride together as friends. Married friends.

“No, no, we should go,” I tell Jack. “It would be weird not to with everyone watching.” I look up at him, expecting irritation but finding nothing. His face is totally blank, masking whatever emotions he’s feeling.

Well, good. An emotionless man is exactly what I need right now.

“Alright then,” Jack gestures for me to get in ahead of him, “let’s go.”

“M’lady,” Charlie pulls open the door as I step forward, he goes to offer me a hand up, but Jack’s baritone voice interrupts as his hand pops up instead.

“Thanks, but I’ve got it from here, Charlie,” he tells the older gentleman. My eyes find his in a question. He jerks his head infinitesimally in the direction of the group gathered on the sidewalk. “Like you said,” he murmurs, “we’ve got an audience to think about.” For a second I’m hypnotized by the soft vibrations of his throat as he speaks, but then he takes me by the hand and elbow and boosts me into the carriage and I forget all about anything but the feel of his warm skin against mine.

“Have fun you two!” Emily shouts as Charlie spurs the horses forward.

“But not too much fun,” Anderson calls. “You know, seeing as we still have a dead body to chat about.”

Wow. Nice. Way to kill the mood.

Not that there was a mood to kill.

Nope. No mood here in this super cozy and romantic horse drawn carriage.

“I think he’s onto us,” Jack mutters under his breath.

“Onto us?” I squeak in a panic. “How could he possibly be onto us?”

“I'm not saying he knows all the details,” Jack replies. “I just mean he’s definitely suspicious. The guy knows me too well to buy all of the lies we’ve told this morning.”

I chew my lower lip anxiously, staring out over the passing city block and wondering if this will be one of my last days of freedom.

“Hey, don’t worry,” Jack tells me in a low voice. “He may know something is up, but he’ll never guess we’re trying to cover up the same murder he’s investigating.”

“How can you be so sure?” I ask.

“Does covering up a murder really seem like something I would do?” he asks wryly.

“No,” I answer truthfully. “Doesn’t seem at all like something you’d do.” I let the words hang between us for a few beats, the only sound the clip-clop of the horses’ hooves as they pull us forward. “So why are you doing it again?” I finally ask, fighting to keep my tone casual and my gaze stuck in my lap.

Jack doesn’t answer. In fact he’s quiet for so long that I finally can’t stand it anymore; I rip my eyes off my lap and look his way to find him staring down at the space between us on the carriage bench. His left hand rests there, the silver band of his ring sparkling in the spring sunshine. As I watch he slides his thumb over the band, securing it further in place on his finger.

“Does it really matter why?” he says hoarsely, raising his gray eyes to meet mine. “There’s no turning back now.”

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