Spend My Life with You

“What about you?”

“The blue one over there,” he said with a lift of his chin.

Lee Ann turned her gaze in that direction. “Oh, you mean the Jaguar over there,” she said tongue in cheek.

Preston grinned.

“We’ll have to swap rides one day. I’ve always wanted to get behind the wheel of a Jaguar.”

“Anytime you’re ready.” He walked her to her car and waited while she opened the door.

She turned to him, and her heart did that thing again in her chest. “Thank you for a wonderful afternoon. Really.”

“I’m glad you said yes. And if you’re not busy tonight, I hope you’ll say yes to doing something fun. There’s a concert in the park. It starts at seven. Then the after-dark movie. It’s always pretty good, something old and in black-and-white.”

She blinked away her surprise. “Tonight? I… Yes, I’d like that.”

“I’ll pick you up at six-thirty. Will that give you enough time?”

“Sure, if I leave right this second.”

They both laughed.

“I’ll see you soon.”

Lee Ann got in her car. Preston closed her door and waved before walking off to his. She sang off-key all the way home.

Chapter 3

Lee Ann darted into the house. She’d lost a lot of time getting back. There were some street closures from a protest rally by local merchants who’d lost their businesses as a result of the oil spill. Thousands of business owners were still waiting for checks, and now not only were their livelihoods at risk but their entire way of life and living, as well. It was an issue that plagued the people of the Gulf and across the United States. Her father was on the Gulf Coast Restoration Committee, so she kept abreast of the facts and fallacies of what was really going on.

She had one foot on the stairs when her father stepped out of his study on the ground floor.

“There you are.”

Lee Ann stopped short, her hand on the oak banister. “Hi.”

“I wanted to go over a few things with you about this schedule.” He read the pages in front of him from above his half-framed glasses. “We need to make some adjustments.”

“Um, can it wait until morning?”

He pulled his glasses off and peered at his daughter. “Morning? You know I leave to go to Washington in the morning.”

Briefly she shut her eyes then turned and walked toward her father. “Right. I wasn’t thinking. Let me take a look.”

“That’s not like you,” Branford said. “You generally don’t miss things like that.”

“I guess I wasn’t thinking. I was in a little bit of a hurry this morning.”

She walked into her father’s study with him close on her heels. She turned on the computer and loaded the calendar information. Within moments, she located his itinerary for the upcoming month.

“Where did you want to make the adjustments, Daddy?”

He stood over her shoulder and pointed to the different dates on the calendar. “Next week Wednesday needs to change. And I can’t have that meeting with the assembly tomorrow because I won’t be here. I’m going to need you to make some phone calls and extend my apologies.”

Lee Ann typed as her father talked, while thinking about her date with Preston. She could almost hear the clock ticking and her time to get ready running out. She made all the changes that her father requested, saved the file and then turned to him. “Anything else?” she asked.

“Well, you’re mighty testy this evening. Something wrong?”

Lee Ann moved back from the desk and stood. She turned to her father and pushed a smile across her mouth. “No, nothing’s wrong. Everything is fine. Why would you think that?”

“You seem a little jumpy. Like you don’t have your mind on what you’re doing.”

“Well, I do have plans for the evening. And I’m running a little behind schedule.”

Branford raised a questioning brow. “Plans? I don’t recall you mentioning that you have plans for the evening.”

“It just came up today.” She began to walk toward the door and wondered why she didn’t just tell her father that she was going out with Preston. She knew why. She didn’t want her father’s scrutiny, his acceptance or rejection—at least not tonight. She wanted to get through tonight.

“You’re going to walk out and not say where you’re going? “ The idea was totally inconceivable to him.

Lee Ann turned back toward her father, suddenly feeling like a little girl instead of a 33-year-old woman. “I’m going out, Daddy. To a concert in the park.”

For a moment, Branford looked as if he could not process the information. It was almost comical if it wasn’t a testament to the kind of life her father perceived that she lived.

“I’ve really got to get ready.” She hurried across the foyer and darted up the stairs to her room. Once she reached the bedroom, she went into her private bath and turned on the water full blast. While she stood under the pulsing water she went through a mental inventory of the things hanging in the closet wondering what would be appropriate to wear to a night in the park with a handsome young senator.

Wrapped in a towel, she paced in front of her walk-in closet looking for the perfect outfit. So much of her wardrobe was either formal or business attire, with a few casual outfits that she hadn’t worn in much too long and her two favorite dresses—one of which he’d already seen her in and the other her sisters said did nothing for her. As she stood there, she was hit with the telling revelation that she had no date clothes—not even for a park date. Preston would be there in a half hour, and she was stuck in her closet with nothing to wear. This would never happen to Dominique. Dominique!

Lee Ann tugged the towel from around her body and put on her robe before dashing down the hallway to her sister’s bedroom. She knocked. No answer.

“Looking for Dom?”

Lee Ann turned. Justin was coming up the stairs.

“She’s out back.”

“Thanks, sweetie.” She breezed by him on the staircase and ran out to the garden behind the house.

Dominique was stretched out on a lounge chair with her iPod earbuds plugged in. Her eyes were closed, and she was rocking her foot to the rhythm playing in her head.

Lee Ann tapped her on the shoulder. Dominique lowered her sunglasses and looked up. She pulled the earbuds out. “Whatsup?” She looked her sister up and down.

“I really need your help. Like right now.”

Dominique’s thinly arched brows rose in surprise. She swiveled to an upright position. “You need my help?”

“Yes,” she said through her teeth. She grabbed Dominique’s hand and tugged her off the veranda and upstairs. “Come on. He’ll be here any minute.”