
“You got a hot date or something?” asked Officer Young. He slapped Chris on the shoulder. “Guessin’ Leilah wasn’t too stoked about you having to work today?”
Four o’clock in the afternoon on Thanksgiving? “She understood.” They met at the academy and while she went into forensics, she still knew what it meant to start at the bottom. “I think.” His schedule was probably the one area they were seeing eye-to-eye these days.
“Go on. Get out of here.”
Chris showered and ditched his uniform for some dinner date style. He and Leilah had known each other for a couple years and dated for several months. Still, he felt the need to impress her—something his newfound faith did not augment.
Twenty minutes later, he pulled his Jeep into Leilah’s drive. He walked past her Jaguar and up to her back door. He rang the bell.
No answer.
If it were anyone but Leilah, he’d think she was just getting ready for their date. No, not Leilah, she was always prepared, on-time, early, in-charge.
He took a deep breath and pressed the button once more.
The door crept open. A bright glossy-lipped smile greeted him. She curled the corners of her lips up just a touch. “Hey there handsome. You been there long?” She pulled the door a bit wider to reveal a royal-blue dress complete with low-cut V-neck.
Chris felt as if he’d just run a 5K.
Definitely, prepared. She swung the door the rest of the way open and turned to saunter to the dining room. The bottom of the dress cut across her muscular thighs as her hips beckoned him to join her for dinner. Definitely in-charge.
Candles illuminated the small table in the center of her dining room. Light danced with the tiny bubbles in two glasses of sparkling white wine. He had a fight ahead of him, if he desired to preserve the type of relationship he knew his new lifestyle required.
What did he desire?
Get to know Chris better. . .
This Thanksgiving story takes place in 2014, six years before In The Image of Man.