She quickly turned to look at me because she needed to see if I was joking. When her eyes met mine she found no humor and I recognized the shock in hers. “You’re serious.”

Well, well. The tables had turned. I was the one to shock Payton Archer and I wasn’t finished yet. “I’m serious as a heart attack. If you told me you couldn’t be married to a police officer and wanted me to do something different, I would. I would be who you needed me to be.”

Her foot fell away from mine and she had no response. Not one word. That couldn’t be good. I had just basically told her I wanted to marry her one day in not so many words and I’d change my career if it was going to keep her from being my wife.

I was the first to look away because my bravery was suddenly replaced by embarrassment. That was such a stupid move on my part. What was I thinking? Girls like her didn’t voluntarily go from living in luxury to middle-class at best.

She pulled her feet out the water and stood up. “Come with me.”

I pulled my feet out of the water and stood to follow her toward the pool house. She opened the door and we walked inside without turning on the light. After she shut the door, the dull light from the moon was the only illumination in the room as she reached for me in the darkness.

Her lips didn’t need light to find mine, but when they did, they hovered without kissing me. “The only person I need you to be is you. If being you means you’re a police officer, then I would be proud to be the wife of an officer.”

She lightly sucked my bottom lip and let it go so it made a loud popping sound before she moved to my neck. How could she do that? Only one pull on my lip with her mouth and she could make me weak at the knees.

“You’re parents are right there. I can see them through the window. What if they caught us?”

“We can see them but they can’t see us. Besides, they already don’t like you so how are we any worse off except both extremely frustrated?”

She pulled my hands and led me over to a chair. “Sit.”

I did as I was told and then she sat across my lap. “You just told me you would change your world to make me happy, so I think you deserve to have your world rocked, wouldn’t you agree?”

25 Hello Past. Have We Met?

Payton

The next several weeks passed quickly and I tried to avoid thinking about my upcoming move to Knoxville because it hurt too much to consider being away from Nick. We had become so close and the thoughts of being away from him was too painful to think about.

Today was Monday, Ginny’s day for her weekly cooking lesson with me and Dallas. Even Gabbi had joined us for lessons, so with all the women gathered in the kitchen making noise, Nick and his dad had started using this hour as one of their routine running times.

Today’s menu was pork chops, fried squash, homemade mac and cheese and cornbread. My mother would die a thousand deaths if she knew I was learning to cook this kind of food.

There was a knock at the front door and I volunteered to answer it since I was in charge of the mac and cheese today and my job was done until the timer went off. I opened the door and found a pretty girl about my age standing there in tight faded jeans and a tight striped shirt. “I’m looking for Nick. Is he here?”

I already didn’t like this. “No, but he should be back in about half an hour. Do you want me to tell him you stopped by?”

“Is it okay if I wait for him?”

My heart jumped up and slammed against the wall of my throat while my instincts screamed at me; she was one of the unidentified. “Sure. Would you like to come in?”

“No. I’ll sit in my car to wait.”

I walked back into the kitchen and Dallas immediately saw the sickened look on my face. She slid over to me away from Ginny and Gabbi and lowered her voice. “What’s wrong? Who was at the door?”

“It was a girl looking for Nick and I got the distinct feeling she knew him well,” I stressed so she would know what I meant. “She’s waiting outside in her car for him to get back.”

“Oh. Well, it doesn’t matter if he knew her well or not. He loves you and he’s not studying any ho he used to mess around with.”

“But why would she hang around to see him? Was she not clued in a little by his girlfriend answering the door?”

Dallas placed a reassuring hand on my arm. “If she didn’t go to school with us, then she probably thinks you’re his sister. Who knows?”

Well, I wasn’t his sister and I wanted to know what the hell was going on.

I heard the front door open and I walked into the living room. Dutch looked suspiciously like Nick’s wingman covering for him. “Nick will be in shortly. He had a friend stop by to talk for a minute.”

I didn’t want to look like the jealous girlfriend so I forced myself to go back into the kitchen with the other women. I was apparently too preoccupied to hear the timer go off because Ginny cued me. “Payton, that timer is for you. You need to check the macaroni to see if the panko crust is browned.”

I zoned back into reality. “Yes, ma'am.” I slid my hand into the oven mitt and then reached into the oven to pull it out and screamed when I burned my inner wrist.

Ginny sprung into action and started inspecting me immediately. “Hurry to the sink and run cool water over it to stop the burning process. Dallas, get Payton a plastic bag and put some ice cubes in it.”

I ran the cool water over the burn and it helped a little, but I knew it was going hurt like a mutha later on. Dallas passed the bag of ice to me and I wrapped a paper towel around it.

Ginny came over to inspect my injury. “Everyone gets burned in the kitchen at some point, Payton.”

I could handle the burn in the kitchen. It was the potential burn of what was happening in the front yard that had me worried.

I sat in the kitchen holding the ice to my inner wrist while the girls got supper on the table in the dining room without me. I heard the front door open, but I didn’t make a move. I was terrified to face Nick. I was afraid I might see something on his face I couldn’t handle.

He walked into the kitchen and saw me holding the bag of ice over my inner arm. “What happened?”

Dallas spoke up for me. “She was preoccupied by what was in the front yard waiting for you and burned her arm.”

That earned everyone’s attention including Ginny’s. “What’s in the front yard?”

“Nothin’, Ginny. I’m gonna take a shower before supper.”

I was gonna explode before I got him alone to talk about that girl and what she was doin’ here.

Dallas walked up beside me where I sat. “I’m sorry. I hope that didn’t piss you off, but I wanted him to know it was his fault you got burned.”

“No, it was fine and it let him know we’ll be having a little talk as soon as I can get him alone.”

“He’s alone in the bathroom now. Dad doesn’t give a rip if you’re in there with him or not, so I’ll cover with Ginny if you wanna sneak in there to talk to him. There’s no way you’re gonna be able to sit through this meal without dying inside.”

“Won’t he have the door locked?”

“Sista, please. You think we don’t know how to pick locks around here?”

I followed her down the hall and watched her pop the lock on the door with a small screwdriver. “Open sesame.”

The shower was running and I slipped in with the agility of a thief in the night. I locked the door behind me knowing it was of little consequence in this house with all the lock pickers living here.

“Nick?”

“Payton?” He peeked around the shower curtain with shampoo in his hair. “What are you doin’ in here?”

I was standing by the door with my arms crossed. “I’m the one that answered when that girl came to the door, so I know she was wanting to see you. Since she waited in her car for you, I’m guessing she got her wish. What did she want from you?”

He ducked back behind the curtain. “Can we talk about it after supper?”

“No, we can’t because I’m freaking out here.”

“Payton, it’s complicated and I can’t explain the whole story before supper.”

Complicated. I didn’t like the way that sounded. “What is there to explain?”

The shower cut off and he reached for his towel. He got out and started drying off, but I was too terrified about what was happening to even think about looking at his naked body. “Baby, trust me. You don’t want me to start this story if I can’t finish it.”

A long story. That couldn’t be good. I felt like I was gonna puke and I considered telling Nick to move over so I could hover over the commode. I covered my mouth with my hand to convince it not to regurgitate.

“Are you okay”

“Hell, no, Nick! I’m not okay. I just sat in your house for half an hour waiting for you to come home to see a ho you screwed and now you won’t tell me what happened when you talked to her.”

He wasn’t denying he screwed her so she was one of the unidentifiable. “So, you have screwed her?”

He sighed heavily. “She says we did and I don’t have a reason to doubt her.”

“You don’t remember her?”

“No. She said it happened at a party. I remember the party, but I don’t remember her at all.”

“So, why did she come here? What did she want?”

There was a knock at the door and I heard Dallas’ voice on the other side. “Ginny is asking questions and looking for you. I can’t cover for you any longer without her guessing where you’re at.”

I looked at Nick. “We’re not even close to being done with this conversation.”

“I know.”

I opened the door and slipped out into the hall luckily without getting caught by Ginny. After I made my appearance in the kitchen, I resumed my duties but not without an inspection by Ginny. “Let me see your burn.”