"Right now. I'll be waiting."
She gave her family an excuse and left, manila envelope in hand. It took ten minutes to drive downtown, and she luckily got a parking spot immediately.
She went inside the coffee shop, but Ross was nowhere in sight. The only people she saw near the desk were a pair of giggling teenagers waiting to be seated, and a man in a fedora, hiding behind a newspaper, like someone in an old detective movie.
She eyed the newspaper for a moment, then stepped closer.
"Psst," came a voice from behind the paper.
"Ross," she said, feeling almost as giggly as the teen agers. "Is that you?"
"Shh." The paper came down to be folded under his arm. There was Ross, his identity hidden under the fedora and behind a pair of the darkest glasses Charity had ever seen. "I'm incognito."
She started to laugh. "What are you talking about?"
"Here." He handed her a pair of sunglasses as dark as his own. "Put them on, fast. We don't want to get caught."
She did as he told her. "Why?" she whispered as he steered her out onto the street and to the corner where he jabbed at the walk button on the light post.
"Just in case."
"In case of what?"
He glanced over his shoulder as two people walked by, then stepped closer and spoke in a confidential tone. "What do you want to bet Faith has followed you? Or W.A.? Or that your brother, Mason, is driving that car right down there by the corner?" He pointed to a pale Mercedes. "I'm not taking any chances. I want one hour alone with you. That's all. But it's something we haven't had since Aunt Doris sailed in the other morning."
"But, Ross-"
"I've booked us a hotel room across the street at the Belvedere."
"Ross!"
"Hey." He turned and touched her cheek. "Don't worry. No pressure." He shrugged, looking young and in nocent. "I just want to be alone with you."
She wanted that, too. She shook her head, but she couldn't hold back the smile. "This is crazy," she said as she followed him across the street and toward the plush hotel lobby.
"Isn't that what you're used to? Crazy?" he murmured as they crunched together in the revolving glass door. "I guess it is catching. I'll be crazy if I have to." He led her across the lobby toward the elevators.
"But, Ross..."
"Every time I get you alone, someone comes crashing in on us. You just keep those dark glasses on. This time we are going to sneak past them all."