That’s a load of bullshit, Abe.
Sarah could handle his SUV. The truth was he hadn’t wanted to let her exit the vehicle and leave him, the night over. And he’d wanted to put his hands on her, hold her close. “There,” he managed to say, his hands lingering on her waist.
“Thanks.” Sarah slipped the strap of her purse over her shoulder and made a small motion as if trying to step back.
Abe forced his fingers to open. “I’ll wait until you’re inside.”
She gave him a faint smile, an unspoken tension between them that hadn’t been present over the past couple of hours as they’d teased and played with one another. Something had happened on the drive home; he had no idea what. “You’ll call me? If you need anything? Otherwise I’ll be here to take you to the doctor at ten.”
Sarah separated out her house key from the other things on the fuzzy yellow ball of her keychain. “You really want to come to all the appointments?”
“Yeah, unless it’s something female where you don’t want me there.”
Laughing, the incredible woman who’d been his wife shook her head. “It’s all female, Abe.” She patted her belly. “I’ll call you. If you can’t come—”
“I’ll be there.” No matter what.
CHAPTER 21
ABE MADE SURE HE WAS ON TIME FOR SARAH’S return appointment with Dr. Snyder. Mostly the doctor just took Sarah’s vitals, ordered a few more blood tests to check she was healthy in terms of iron and other nutrients, then told her he’d call through a prescription for anything she needed once he had the results.
Abe had intended to pick her up, but she’d messaged for him to meet her at the doctor’s office. Appointment over, they stood in the underground parking area under the building, protected from the scorching heat of the LA sun. “You working today?” he asked, taking in the tailored navy-blue dress that screamed professional to him.
A nod. “One of my employees is retiring, so I need to find a replacement. It’s all interviews back-to-back.” She glanced at her watch. “First one’s in forty-five minutes.”
There was so much of Sarah’s life he’d missed out on, so much he didn’t know about this woman she’d become. “I guess you’d better head out in case you get delayed in traffic,” he said, even though he wanted to talk to her.
“Yes, it gets this hot and someone always loses it.” Sarah gave him an awkward smile as she slid into the driver’s seat, as if she couldn’t believe they’d been reduced to talking about LA traffic. It was a favorite topic of locals, but they’d been too much to each other for it to come to this.
Abe gripped the door before she could close it. “You free this coming Saturday?” His heart pounded like that of a teenage boy asking a girl out for the first time.
When Sarah said, “Yes, I think so,” he told himself not to celebrate prematurely.
Slipping on her sunglasses, she put her purse on the passenger seat. “Why?”
He curled his fingers over the red metal of her car door, the edge solid under his palm. “I have tickets to the symphony.”
“The symphony?” A smile that felt far more real, far more his Sarah. “Let me guess. No one else will go with you?”
He scowled. “Philistines.” In actuality, he hadn’t ever asked anyone else. He usually liked to go alone, lose himself in the music so different from that which he made but that spoke to him on the same visceral level.
“In the interest of full disclosure,” he said, “they’re not the best seats and it’s a matinee performance—I didn’t want to be front and center at the fancy night session.” True, except this time around, he’d bought two tickets, and when he’d chosen the seats, he’d placed Sarah’s aversion to media interest over his own liking for the front seats where he could stretch out his legs.
Abe couldn’t not be a big guy who attracted attention, but the symphony audience was different to Schoolboy Choir’s audience. And even if there were rock fans in the crowd, most people didn’t expect to see the keyboard player of a hard rock band at the symphony. Especially one wearing a button-down shirt and clean, dark blue jeans. And because they didn’t expect it, they didn’t make the connection.
Sarah placed her hands on the steering wheel, closed her fingers over it slowly as if she was thinking. His heart boomed a bass counterpoint to his breathing, his blood a roar in his ears.
“I’d like to go.”
The words were an exhilarating punch to the gut. “Great. I’ll pick you up around one thirty.”