"Well, mostly because when I told Charlie I was going to Seattle, he specifically asked if I was going alone and, at the time, I was. IF he asked again, I probably wouldn't lie, at least not to his face, but I don't think he will ask again, and leaving my truck at home would just bring up the subject unnecessarily. And also, because your driving frightens me."
He rolled his eyes. "Of all the things about me that could frighten you, you worry about my driving?" He shook his head in abject disgust, but then his eyes rolled back and were serious again. "Won't you want to tell your father that you're spending the day with me?" There was an undercurrent to his question that I didn't understand.
"With Charlie, less is always more." I thought about the pink flower box that his arm had arrived in and was sure about that. "Where are we going, anyway?"
"The weather will be nice, so I'll be staying out of the public eye... and you can stay with me, if you'd like to." Again, he was leaving the choice up to me.
"And you'll show me what you meant, about the sun?" I asked, excited by the idea of unraveling another secret of the sun.235
"Yes." He smiled, and then paused. "But if you don't want to be... alone with me, I'd still rather you didn't go to Seattle Saturday by yourself. I shudder to think of the trouble you could find in a city that size."
Why wouldn't I want to be alone with him? Was he gay? I then remembered that he was still worried about eating me alive. Pshaw, but I was still miffed. "Phoenix, Kentucky is three times bigger than Seattle—just in population. In physical size—"
"Shut up," he interrupted me. "Your number wasn't up in Phoenix and I won't have you running around a Seattle Saturday alone, exposed to every Joe Rapist in the state. I'd rather you stayed near me." His eyes did that unfair smoldering thing again, whisps of smoke radiating from the pupils.
235. The Aztecs knew many of the sun's secrets.