She laughed. "Good question. Now, are we doing this or not? Because at some point today, I really need to get back to the hospital."
He flicked her chin with his finger. "You just called the hospital and your grandmother is sleeping, so don't start feeling guilty on me. I'm not used to seeing guilt on a model's face—unless, of course, she just scarfed down a pound of Godiva chocolates."
"My favorite."
"Mine, too. All right. Let's see if this thing works." Jimmy slid onto the front seat, balancing the bike by resting his feet lightly on the ground. "Where to?"
"Head down Main Street, hang a left at Carmen Avenue, and I'll show you the hot spots: Milton's Barber Shop, Lucy's Hot Curl, and Mrs. Davenport's Frank Sinatra museum."
He looked over his shoulder at her. "No way, I love Old Blue Eyes."
"You do not like Frank Sinatra."
"How would you know, babe? You don't know everything about me."
She made a face at him. "Fine, I stand corrected. But you won't be able to get into the museum, because Mrs. Davenport only opens it on Saturdays."
"Too bad. So are you on, or what?"
"Actually, I'm not." She laughed as the bike threatened to fall over. "This isn't going to work."#p#分页标题#e#
"Sure it is. You put your feet on the pedals. I'll keep us stable until you're ready. Then I'll push off and you'll start pedaling really fast."
"If you say so."
He waited until Tessa said she was set, then pushed off and started pedaling. After the first few wobbles, they were cruising down Main Street and turning quite a few heads, as well as stopping traffic as Tessa had predicted.
He wasn't surprised that people stared at them; he was surprised to discover that so many of the people seemed to know Tessa. He wondered why she hadn't come home in close to a decade and had a feeling the answer had to do with her sister and her sister's husband. He hadn't seen Tessa run into a man's arms with such confidence since … well, since never.
She usually kept everyone at arm's length. On occasion, he'd wondered if she had something going on, like an affair with a married man, or if she was nursing a broken heart. Hell, maybe it was both.
Her sister certainly hadn't looked happy to see her husband and Tessa together. There was a history among the three of them, he'd bet his camera on that.
"There's Lucy's Hot Curl," Tessa said. "In case you need a haircut."
"I'm not sure I'd trust this mane to someone named Lucy."
"Fine, be a big-city snob."
"Oh, sure, since when has anyone but Gerard touched your golden locks?"
"All right, you win."
"I always do." He began to whistle as they cruised around town. It was fairly flat and easy to get around, not too much traffic to worry about, and he couldn't remember when he'd had such a good, simple, cheap time. He felt … happy. "Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer true," he sang out.
"Oh, please, don't sing."
"I'm half crazy, all for the love of you."
"I'm totally crazy for doing this with you," Tessa interrupted. "Everyone is looking at us."
"Looking at you. Aren't you used to that by now?"
"Turn left. There's Carmen Avenue. I want to show you Central Park."
"Just like the one in Manhattan?"
"Except it's about fifty times smaller."
"Cool." Jimmy made a fairly wide turn as the long bicycle still seemed a bit unsteady beneath his hands. But then he hadn't been on a bicycle in about twenty years. He began to pump harder as the bicycle seemed to be dragging up a small incline. Having a sneaking suspicion why, he flung a look over his shoulder. "Hey, you're not pedaling."
"Of course I am," she said.
"Liar." But he felt a definite improvement in their speed as they hit the top of the hill and began down the other side. "No more loafing," he said with another quick look at her. He should have kept his eyes on the road, but the bloom in Tessa's cheeks, her hair streaming out behind her, was just too hard to resist.
"Jimmy!" she cried.
"Shit!" he swore as he looked back just in time. He had to make a hard turn to the right to avoid a woman, a stroller, and some kind of dog on a very long leash. The turn was too fast, and he had trouble recovering as the bike soared over the sidewalk and down a long grassy embankment, toward a pond—a pond? Tessa hadn't mentioned anything about a pond.
"Turn! Turn!" Tessa screamed.
But he couldn't make the steering work. He didn't know if Tessa was turning to the right or the left, but they didn't seem to be in sync. The bike began to fishtail, and they drew closer to the water. Then he felt the back of the bike flare up as if Tessa had jumped. The next thing he knew he was underwater, under ice-cold water. He thrashed his way to the top, only to realize he could actually stand up since the pond was only about five feet deep. He looked over to the bank and saw Tessa standing next to the pond. She had jumped and left him to his fate. Traitor.#p#分页标题#e#