her hands in the air, but decided not to, in the interests of steering. “Jealous? Of the Scandinavian patrolwoman?”
“I don’t think ‘Blake’ is Scandinavian.”
“I couldn’t care less who you throw yourself at. You and Miss Swedish Cheekbones could—”
“I meant,” Josh interjected, “jealous because I’m so much better with the opposite sex than you are. Face it, you’re no expert on catching men.”
“You make guys sound like fish. Or, more appropriately, a disease. For your information, and my mother’s, my sister’s and the entire population of Rebecca, Texas, I don’t even want a man! So why would I work toward catching one?” Gee, don’t hold back, Piper.
Though she’d surprised herself with her vehement response, Josh took her overreaction pretty well, simply shaking his head. “You know what? You’re right, and I’m sorry.”
She bit the inside of her lip. “Oh, great. Apologize and make it completely impossible for me to stay mad at you.”
“I do my best. To tell you the truth, I don’t even know why I’d say anything about you finding a guy when…”
“When what?”
“Nothing.”
Piper risked glancing up from the road, but Josh’s face gave nothing away. His eyes were shuttered, his mouth neither scowling nor even hinting at his usual flirtatious smile. In fact, it was almost eerie how expressionless his gaze was. Not vacant, but flat…as though he had no emotions at all.
Well, this trip was off to a fabulous start so far.
She pulled into the parking lot of a gas station. Silence reigned. Even if she’d known what to say, the very set of his shoulders deflected conversation. Not for the first time, she wondered what it must be like to love someone who could shut you out so completely with an instant, invisible wall.
But what must it be like for Josh, trapped on the other side of that wall?
Piper smiled at the ridiculous thought. He lived the life most bachelors dreamed of, and seemed perfectly content with it.
As she slid her credit card through the slot at the gas pump, Josh got out of the car. He crossed the parking lot, and Piper watched a group of college-age girls gape in open admiration. The man couldn’t help his own appeal. She shouldn’t have called him a giant gland when he was doing her a huge favor.
She was just a little on edge. This was her first trip home in years, and though she’d never admit it out loud, a herd of butterflies was stampeding in her stomach. The idea of pretending to be involved with Josh for the next few days was hardly steadying her nerves.
Still, she couldn’t let him know the effect he had on her. Best case scenario, he’d tease her mercilessly until she had to kill him and hide his body on some deserted Texas road. Worst case, she’d make him uncomfortable and ruin their friendship.
She’d just finished filling the car when Josh appeared at her side, a brown paper bag in his hand.
“How about I drive for a while?” he offered. “And before you bite my head off, my offer has nothing to do with you going Mach 10. You know how antsy I get when other people are behind the wheel, and this way you don’t have to do the whole trip yourself.”
She surrendered her keys, knowing she probably shouldn’t drive, anyway, when she was so preoccupied with her dubious homecoming. As she slid into the car and fastened her seat belt, he thrust the bag in her direction.
“I got these for you,” he said. “I thought you might need them this weekend.”
The paper crinkled as she unfolded the top and looked inside. Half-a-dozen Chocomels.
Piper grinned, the earlier tension between them gone. “You are the greatest, Joshua Weber.” She savored the first bite of chocolate. “You know, I got to thinking about what you said earlier. You were wondering if we should know trivial facts about each other.”
“Yeah, but you said they weren’t important.”
“They aren’t. Not the trivial ones, anyway. But there are other things that might be. I hardly know anything about your childhood, and my family might think that’s odd.”
Okay, using her relatives as an excuse to pry was both flimsy and obvious. Luckily, Piper was curious enough not to be picky.
“You know where I grew up. You know I’ve lived in Texas all my life and went to the University of Texas on scholarship.”
She folded her arms over her chest and waited, unwilling to be put off with vague answers.
He sighed. “How specific did you want me to be?”
“Maybe something a little more personal than the state you lived in.”
“I didn’t expect this from you,” he said quietly, the very softness of his tone making her feel as though she’d betrayed him.
Perhaps she had. She’d known beforehand how he’d feel about this.
“Fair enough.” She relented. “You don’t want to talk, we don’t have to. But my family’s going to ask you questions this weekend. I’ll support however you want to handle them, but you should probably give the matter some advance thought.”
A few minutes of silence passed, and Piper turned to watch the flat autumn landscape roll by outside her window.
She almost jumped in her seat when Josh unexpectedly volunteered, “I lived in a total of six foster homes. The last family, the Wakefields, actually looked into adopting me. But they got transferred to Europe before the legal stuff could take place, so I stayed in an orphanage until college. A fraternity contact led me to a job in Houston, and you know the important stuff from there.”
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