The Chase by Amber Riel (story reading txt) 📖

asked as her eyes landed on me and Louis.

          “It was marvelous,” I replied.

          Louis nodded in agreement.  “I wouldn’t have asked for a better night.  And thank you, Eric, for the suggesting the restaurant.  It was a good choice for us.”

          “No problem.  I bring Carmen there every chance I get.  As a matter of fact that was the same place I proposed to her.”  He locked eyes with his wife who was smiling at the memory.

          “Yes, but this is their night.  Not ours, honey.”

          “I know but maybe we could double date sometime…. After the situation…. Carmen explained it to me already…. I have a feeling that George will be calling me soon about it…. Now anyways I don’t want to go into that cruel topic till some other time though right now let’s just stay on the happy subject about your date.”

          “Did you two kiss?” Carmen asked as she bit her lip as if holding back excitement.

          I kind closed my right eye, smiling and thinking about the three kisses we had shared.

          “Carmen?” Eric asked.  “You two don’t have to answer that….”

          “But, Eric, they told me about the kiss they had yesterday.”

          Eric’s eyes kind of grew in surprise but then he smiled.  “Wow…. Working fast, aren’t we, Louis?”

          Louis kind of laughed and shook his.  “Actually, in my defense your wife wasn’t supposed to know….”  He wrapped his arm around my waist and kissed my right temple.  “Sam, here kind of blurted it out.”

          “Ah.”  Eric nodded.  “Anything you like to add, Sam?”

          I kind of smiled, biting my lip.  I kind of glanced at Louis then over to the couple who were having their fun interrogating us.  “I---Ah---I….”

          “Well?”

          “Yes, we did kiss, Carmen…. Three times actually,” Louis replied with a sigh of giving in.  “She was going to get it out of us one way or another,” he whispered quietly in my ear.

          “Aww…. That’s so sweet.  So did you two go anywhere else after leaving the restaurant?” Carmen replied.

          “Yea, I took Sam to the lake for a little bit and we had a nice peaceful moment of just the two of us.”

          “Ooo the lake?  What did you two do there?  Anything romantic?” Carmen was quite interested in our date and I imagined that if Annie had been there she would have been asking a mess of questions as well.

          “Well, I carried Sam when the shoes had bothered her feet.  We sat on a bench and talked for a little bit then came back here.  Look, Carmen, we’re going to get up early tomorrow because we’re going to be leaving.  It’s about time we get back on the road.”

          Carmen frowned at Louis’s words.  I could tell that she wasn’t expecting us to leave anytime soon.

          “Carmen, Annie and Ron are going to want to see Lainie…. We can’t just forget about them and I’m sure that she wants to see them as well.”

          Carmen sighed with disappointment.  “I know…. I just like having company….”

          “I know, Carmen, but we can’t stay here…. And you know that…. We’ve spent enough time here and it’s about time for us to leave but it’s not like we’re going to another planet or something like that…. We’ll be back to visit….”

          Carmen nodded.  I could tell that she was hoping for us to stay rather than leave but we had no choice.  We had to go and Lainie did need to see Annie and Ron soon as well.  Louis was right about that and we all knew.

          “If you guys want me to, I’ll escort you three out of town,” Eric offered.

          “No thanks, man.  We’ll be fine.”

          Eric nodded.  “Alright.  I’m sure that George will be calling me soon to let me know what’s going on and to help you out.”

          “Yep.”  Louis stood up and pulled me to my feet as well.  “I expect you to get up early, missy.”  He smiled.

          I kind of rolled my eyes, playfully.

 

          Louis walked me to the bedroom again and held onto both of my hands.  “I’ll see you in the morning.”

          “I’ll see you in the morning as well,” I replied, feeling butterflies in my stomach and kind of school-girlish as he held my hands, rubbing my skin with his thumbs.  “I had an amazing night.”

          He smiled at my words.  “I did too.”  He leaned in closer toward me.  “Is it alright to steal a fifth kiss?” he whispered into my ear.

          I smiled, kind of blushing at the question.  “Why not?” I whispered in return.

          The next thing I knew our lips were pressed up against each other.  The kiss hadn’t lasted as long as the fourth one but it was as amazing and thrilling like the others had been.

          “Awe now isn’t that sweet?” Carmen’s voice asked from behind Louis.

          Louis pulled himself away from me and threw his head back.  “What do you want now?”

          “I was going to get Imhotep so Eric could bring out and I guess I must have come at the right time,” she said as she smiled.

          “It’s a good night kiss, Carmen.”

          “I can see that…. Good night, Sam…. Good night, Lou.”

          “Why do you insist on calling me that?” Louis asked there was a hint of annoyance a long side some playful tone in his question.

          “It’s fun.”  Carmen headed down the hall and vanished into the room at the far end of room.

          Louis shook his head and locked eyes with me.  “Good night, Sam.”

          “Good night, my knight in shining armor.”

          “I told you…. I’m not a knight in shining armor.”  He kind of smirked.  He kissed my cheek before we both went into our separate rooms.

 

          That night I didn’t dream or get much sleep.  I was too busy thinking about the amazing date I had with Louis.  It was crazy how I had hated him at first because I thought he was a total jerk but then I was falling in love with.  I knew that God was working on bringing us together.  Things happen for a reason, I thought as I stared at the ceiling with a smile on my face.

 

          The next morning, I woke up tired because of the fact I had barely gotten any sleep.  I looked over at the empty side where Lainie had been and kind of figured that she must have woken up and headed downstairs.  I sat up and looked around for a few minutes before actually climbing out of bed.  Knock, knock, knock.  The noise was barely audible but I heard it.  “Come in,” I replied.

          The door opened and Louis walked in and worked his way over to the bed, sitting in front of me.  “Good morning, Sam.”  He kissed my forehead and smiled at me.

          “Good morning,” I replied kind of whispering.

          “Carmen has breakfast prepared so try to hurry and get ready to leave so you can eat before we go.”

          I nodded.  I kind of kissed him then shifted my feet toward the floor.  “Do I have time for a shower?”

          His smile grew.  “Yes, you have time for a shower as long as you don’t take forever.”

          “I won’t.”

          He kissed me then stood up and left the room before I could say anything else.

 

          After I was showered and completely dressed, I worked my way to the kitchen where I found Carmen, Eric, Lainie, Louis, and even Imhotep waiting for me.  “Good morning, Sam,” Carmen told me.

          “Good morning, everyone,” I replied.

          Imhotep walked over to me and nudged my hand with his snout so I could rub his soft furry head.

          “Good morning to you too.”  I smiled as the dog looked up at me with his mouth slightly open and his long pink tongue hanging out on the left side of his face.  It looked as he was smiling in return.

 

          Louis drove for hours.  I hoped that we were almost to our destination because I was tired of driving places and then having to leave.  I kind of had the feeling that Louis was about ready for us to finally be with Ron and Annie again as well.  There was no telling what Lainie was going through.

          “When do I get to see my mummy and daddy?” Lainie asked with a voice that cut through me like a knife.  I could tell that Louis had felt the same emotion.  He took my right hand in his and kind of tightened the grip as if to reassure me.

          “Soon, Lainie,” he replied.  Then I figured he took my hand for support.  “We should be there soon.”

          “Today soon?”

          Louis bit his upper lip.  I knew whatever he was about to say wasn’t what Lainie wanted to hear.  “No…. We have a few more days of being on the road…. But don’t worry, everything will be fine.”

          “Lainie, did you have fun while we were at Aunty Carmen’s house?” I asked, changing the subject for Louis’s benefit.

          “Yea.”

          I glanced back toward her to see her smile.  “Good.  What did you do while Uncle Louis and I were out last night?”

          “Eat dinner….” She started laughing.  “Uncle Eric took a couple of spoons and placed them over his eyes…. It was funny then Aunty Carmen gave him that stare that my mummy gives my daddy when he does or says something that gets him into trouble.”

          I felt Louis’s grip loosen as he kind of laughed.

          I smiled as well.  “That must funny then…. Did you do anything else?”

          “I got to help Aunty Carmen give Imhotep a bath…. He was so dirty that the water was nothing but mud when we had finished…. Then when he jumped out he shook water all over us and Aunty Carmen wrapped and old towel around his neck to help him dry.  What do you two do while you were gone?”

          My smile grew at the child’s question.

          “We had dinner and then went to see the lake,” Louis answered.

          “Did you two kiss?”

          I kind of covered my mouth as I started laughing.

          “You’re too young to ask that kind of question,” Louis replied with a half-smile as he glanced into the rearview mirror.  “You shouldn’t be thinking of such things, young lady.  I’ll tell your parents,” he joked.

          “But every time my parents get back from a date, they always kiss and the princess always kisses prince charming after he saves her from the bad people in the fairy tales.”

          “Princesses kissing princes are in stories.  And you’re parents should know better than to kiss in front of a young child,” Louis replied, trying not to laugh but failing at the attempt.

          “Did you?” Lainie asked.

          “None of your business, kiddo.”

          I shook my head as I looked at Louis with a smile.  “Come on, Lou,” I whispered.  “It’s okay it’s not like anything else happened.”

          Louis kept his eyes on the road as he tried to figure out what he was going to say.  “You’ve been hanging out with my sister for too long…. I will get you back for calling me Lou…. Just you wait and see…. And besides, I don’t think she should know about that stuff…. Kissing and stuff…. She’s only four.”

          “Okay, Lou, if you say so.”

          I watched as Louis rolled his shoulders with irritation.  “Just wait….” He smiled evilly as he glanced at me for a moment.  “I know what I’m going to do.”

          “Ooo I’m so scared.”

          “Just wait, missy,” he said as he waved a finger around.

 

          The sky was dark blue with a few stars hanging in it but no moon was out or visible to me at least.  Lainie was out cold in the back seat.  Louis pulled off to a side road and drove