Free Richfield & Rivers Mystery Series 1 - Combust the Sun by Andrews, Austin

if she'd just phoned me.
    "I
thought we'd said our goodbyes." Her voice was seductive. "No, I
didn't phone you," she said, and hung up in that abrupt way she had of
ending conversations.
    I
rang Callie back, exasperated over my own lack of resolve when it came to this
woman. "We leave for L.A. Friday at eight a.m. There's room for one
suitcase. I am not real cheery in the mornings, and I hope you like a steady
diet of swirling dog hair."
    "I'm
already packed. Good night." She hung up on me. I was going to have to
talk to her about that. People should mutually agree the conversation is over.
I flopped back on the bed, jostling Elmo, who was resting on the foot of it.
    "I
know I should have checked with you first, Elmo. I don't know what got into
me," I admitted apologetically. "Something about her gets me. She's
sort of unpredictable and wild, and she looks fabulous and she smells great.
Same reasons you pick a girl." Elmo let out a loud sigh of annoyance, and
we both settled down to try to get some sleep.
    If I
were to mark an event that changed my life, I would have to highlight this one
in Day-Glo yellow. I had just agreed to drive fourteen hundred miles with a
cranky basset, a crazy psychic, and several guys who were trying to kill me.

Chapter
Seven
    I busied
myself with the Jeep, masking my sadness over leaving by feigning concern over
tire pressure and battery fluid levels, only giving my parents a quick kiss at
the last moment as I hurriedly backed out of the driveway. Mom smiled broadly
and waved energetically as if to assure me she'd always be standing on that
porch for me. Dad seemed less certain.
    In
the rearview mirror, I could see Mom walking back inside the house, but my
dad's lone figure stood in the front yard, waiting until I was completely out
of sight. Tears flowed freely down my cheeks.
    I
reached Riverside Drive and Callie's condo, where she was patiently waiting out
in front of the gleaming twenty-story building wearing white Reeboks, a white
T-shirt, a tiny pair of blue jeans, and a big smile. The radio was playing and
a country singer was admitting that she knows what crazy means—seeing her guy
in a pair of jeans. I could relate. I was blown away and insane over the way
Callie Rivers looked in her jeans. I was just short of howling like Elmo. I was
going to be in a car for two days with this woman, and it made my heart race like
a NASCAR engine. I may be in danger of some sort of sexual blowout, I
thought.
    She
glanced down at my tennis shoes, so beaten up that the brand name was
indiscernible, and said, "I want to buy you some cute tennis shoes,
Teague," and I knew that all my casual clothes were in danger of debuting
at Goodwill.
    I
caught sight of her three metallic silver suitcases lined up on the curb. I
reminded her that we'd agreed on one suitcase.
    "We
didn't agree. You informed me that one was all I was allowed. I'm very high
maintenance, Teague."
    "You're
right." I shrugged. "How could anyone possibly look like you look,
out of one suitcase?" I began shifting everything around inside the Jeep,
scrunching Elmo up to steal a few more feet. The third suitcase had to be
bungee-corded to the roof rack. I was panting when it was all over. Callie took
this time to introduce herself to Elmo.
    "He's
huge and he's so beautiful!" she said, stroking his long white frame with
its big black and tan spots. Elmo happily banged his tail against the back
door. Callie disappeared around the car to locate her makeup mirror, giving me
time to talk to Elmo, who was making tight circles and fretting over his loss
of personal space.
    "Be
nice to her, she's from another planet," I told him.
    Callie
returned with a box of chocolate doughnuts and a thermos of coffee, climbed
into the passenger seat, and said she thought this might cheer me up.
    "They're
homemade," she said. "I made them last night."
    I
was happily amazed. I didn't know anyone who knew how to make doughnuts, much
less chocolate doughnuts, which