Chapter 24
[Stone]
Afew days pass, and Taxi and I fall into a routine. Nights on the lumpy couch. Drives to the hospital. Rinse. Repeat.
However, the monotony of the days is getting to Taxi. Trudy sleeps often and long hours at a time, and Taxi has kind of a nervous energy about her. Like she needs to get out of the four-walled enclosure of Trudy’s room.
One afternoon, I can’t stand the pressure I saw building up in her.
“Come on,” I whisper, scooping my hand under her arm and gently tugging her up from the chair she’d been sitting in for days beside her aunt.
“What?” she questions, keeping her voice lowered. “Where are we going?”
“Out.” I lead her out of Trudy’s room and better explain myself when we near the nurses’ station. “Nurse Betty here is gonna watch our girl for a little while.”
I wink at the older woman who works in the intensive care unit. I’ve known Betty for years because of accidents and incidents in the community at large.
The white-haired woman giggles and waves a dismissive hand at me. “Get out of here, you two.”
“What? I can’t leave,” Taxi argues. “And did you just use some Sylver charm to get your way with her?”
My brows lift. “I don’t know about Sylver charm, but you absolutely can leave. Just for an hour. Give yourself a break.”
“I really shouldn’t.” Taxi glances toward Trudy’s room, crossing her arms, and chewing at her lower lip.
“Look, I understand your concern. And Betty here has me on speed dial if something happens. But right now, Trudy is resting as she should be. The doctors say she’s doing well.”
I pause, cupping her shoulders and lowering my head to meet her eyes. I’m not above pouting a lip, hoping that Sylver charm she mentioned might work on her.
“One hour?” she questions, glancing back at me.
“One hour.” That doesn’t give us much time, but I want to get Taxi outside for a bit.
It’s a beautiful August afternoon. Still warm with the scent of change in the air. Soon enough, the leaves will shift colors, and the temperature will drop.
Eventually, Taxi gives in. Unable to help myself, I wrap my arm over her shoulder and tug her to my side, leading her out to my truck. Thankfully, she doesn’t balk under the touch. Instead, she leans into me until we get to the parking lot.
We quickly hop in my truck and head out. “We’re going to one of my favorite spots.”
The place isn’t the official trail I’d love to explore with Taxi one day, but a spot I’d discovered a few years back.
“I used to bring my brother Ford to Sterling Falls when he was young. We’d take a short hike until he blew off steam.” I pause for a second. “My dad . . . he hurt Ford with his words, telling him he’d never be any good at baseball.” Softly smiling to myself, I admit. “I think he did all right.”
I’d say an all-star centerfielder for the Chicago Anchors for nearly a decade made him a success.
“Anyway, I found this little offshoot hike a while back.” I steer down a bumpy trail that looks like it’s nothing more than a two-tire lane. We veer off the lane and into a copse of trees.
“Stone Sylver, where the heck are you taking me?”
“Trust me.” I smile again, popping open my door and reaching into the back. When I retrieve a picnic basket, Taxi raises her brows.
“Did I seem like a foregone conclusion?”
I chuckle softly. “That is the last way I would describe you.” I’m still so uncertain about many things when it comes to Taxi, but we’ve cuddled every night, hunkered down on that lumpy couch, just being close to one another. That has to mean something, right?
I hold out my hand, and I’m pleased when she takes it, easily following me through the trees that quickly break apart, revealing a section of the river.
Taxi pauses beside me, staring at the water rushing past us.
“You mentioned how you grew up near a river,” I remind her. “And I now realize you meant this one. Well, maybe not this direct branch, but we don’t have time for the falls today. Maybe one day soon.”
It’s a sliver of hint that I’d like more from her. A future promise. A little more time.
Setting down the lunch basket, I drop Taxi’s hand and pull out a blanket, shaking it out for us to sit on. I wave toward the square of plaid for her to take a seat.
“Stone Sylver, this is almost romantic.”
“Almost?” I arch a brow. While I wasn’t intending this spot to be romantic, I wasn’t not intending it to be romantic either. I just want to give her some time outside of that hospital room and Trudy’s home.
We take a seat, and I remove items from the basket. Two thickly layered sandwiches, mini bags of potato chips, and two whole pickles, plus bottled water.
“You make a mean sandwich,” she teases, reminding me I made her one that first night. Every other night since then, we’ve eaten at the hospital or hit a drive-thru on our way back to Sterling Falls.
“Make a decent burger, too.” I pause a second. “You should come to dinner at my place this Sunday. Judd’s gonna bring Simon. The whole family will be getting together.”
Taxi watches me as I hold up two small chip bags, letting her pick which flavor she wants.
“Sounds like a special occasion, I don’t want to intrude,” she states.
“No special occasion. Just a Sunday.” I hand her the bag she selected, after I’ve opened it for her. “When my siblings were younger, I made Sundays a mandatory day to check in with everyone. Who had what, when, and who needed what.”
I open my own bag of chips and pop one in my mouth.
“Ever the caregiver,” she teases.
I shrug. “Something like that.” I squint at the river. “Family is important to me. My mama wouldn’t have wanted us to fall apart, and I’m the eldest.”
I’ve tried to make her proud, even if she wasn’t here to see me.
Taxi lowers her chip bag and stares into it. “I get that. Even though Trudy was present, I always worried about Sedona and Jolene. Especially Jolene. She’s the wild one of us three.”
I chuckle softly, knowing exactly what she means. “Sebastian was the wild one in our bunch. It’s always the youngest.” I shake my head, provoking a smile from Taxi.
Flipping my phone, I note the time. “Okay. No serious stuff. We only have forty-seven minutes. Tell me something fun.”
Taxi laughs, the sound light and musical. “Like what?”
“You like to paint. Do you have a favorite color?”
“Blue,” she whispers, and I glance up at her, meeting her eyes. “There’s comfort in blue.”
With her gaze locked on my eyes, I don’t want to read more into her color explanation.
“But is that your favorite?” I lean toward her, teasing.
“I like violet. Well, more like periwinkle.” Her mouth slowly curls like just saying the word brings her happiness.
“And what color is that?” I ask curiously before popping another chip in my mouth.
“It’s blue and white, making almost a lavender, but not quite. It’s kind of rare and not really found in nature,” she explains.
“Sounds pretty.”
Taxi chuckles. “No offense, but I’m not certain you understand pretty colors. Let me guess your favorite. Beige.”
She eyes my uniform shirt.
“Don’t have much of a choice.” Sheriff’s department standard issue here.
“But even when you wear street clothes, you still wear beige.” She grins, lips spreading wide.
“Well, I guess, I like beige. It’s . . .
comforting.” I’ve never really thought about it, but I guess I just like the color.
As she continues to stare at my uniform, an unease washes over me.
I suppose my uniform isn’t comforting for her, and suddenly, I’m second-guessing our current position, dressed as I am.
“Can I wear your badge?” she asks next, startling me.
“Um, no. But I can get you one of your own.”
“Really?” Her brows lift.
“Yep. We have these plastic kid ones we give away. I’ll get you one.”
She tosses a chip at me, and I feign ducking when the chip doesn’t even reach me. I laugh harder.
“You’re mean.”
“Okay, fine. You want to be a sheriff’s deputy.” I shift so I face her better.
“Sure.” She shimmies her shoulders. “Chase the bad guys. Catch the thief.”
I make her hold up her hand like she’s taking an oath. Then I hold out my other hand, like I’m holding a Bible. “Set your hand on mine.”
She sits up straighter, face becoming serious as she lays her small hand in my large palm. With my hand up in the air and hers matching my position, I begin.
“I, state your name . . .”
“I, state your name,” she mimics.
I smirk. “No, really say your name on that part.”
“Oh.” She giggles. “I, Tallulah Alexander . . .”
“Do solemnly swear.”
“Do solemnly swear,” she repeats.
“That I will not . . .”
“That I will not . . .” She tilts her head, looking at me skeptically.
“Chase bad guys.”
“Stone.”
“Attempt to catch thieves.”
“Very funny.”
“Or throw chips at the sheriff.”
She slides her hand against mine, retreating from her swearing in, but I catch her fingers before she fully withdraws from me.
“You’re ridiculous,” she says, still smiling.
“And you’re beautiful.” The compliment slips out before I can stop myself. I’m trying to be patient, giving Taxi the space she needs and the support as well. I don’t want to pressure her in any way, but I cannot help how she takes my breath away.
“You’re pretty, too.” She quietly admits, dropping her gaze to where my fingers still pinch hers.
I use my other hand to cup her chin and tip up her face. “My favorite color is your eyes. Sterling grey.”
Slowly, her mouth curls higher on one side. “Some say they are silver.”
“They’re the prettiest color I’ve ever seen,” I admit. Unique and special.
“My mother was Egyptian. My father Black. People say I have my mother’s eyes.”
I shake my head, sensing she doesn’t like the comparison. “I think you have Taxi eyes.”
“What about you? Who do you look like?”
“All my siblings and I have varying shades of blue eyes. We get them from our mother. The dark hair was all Dad.”
Taxi hums. “I think you look like a Stone.”
I chuckle. “Hence, the color beige should not be ironic.”
Taxi hums again, almost purring as her gaze lowers to my uniform. “The color is growing on me.”
That’s all I want. Her to accept me, be comfortable with me.
The longer she stares at me, those pretty eyes zeroed in, and her lips puckered upward just a smidge, the more I want to lean over this meager lunch and kiss her. Take those lips again and remind her of that moment we shared.
Then again, we’re making new moments. Navigating who we are right now, not who we were fifteen months ago.
She reaches over and traces the badge on my chest. Running her finger along the edges, outlining the star. My heart hammers beneath the emblem, and I capture her hand once again, flattening her palm over the six-point metal.
With my other hand, I reach for her upper left chest and trace a star against the T-shirt she’s wearing.
“I, Stone Sylver . . .”
She stares at me.
“Do solemnly swear . . .”
Taxi’s eyes latch on mine.
“To wear another color, other than beige, sometime soon.”
She bursts out laughing, and I release her hand, confident that my real oath was to make her smile for an hour, distract her from all the worries outside her control, and give her some fresh air.
“Eat your lunch, Tallulah Alexander.” I wink.
“Yes, sir.” She chews at her lower lip, keeping her gaze steady, but those pretty eyes . . . they are as playful as the first night I met her.
Absolutely arresting.
And I’m in danger of my heart getting caught by a thief.