A Love Like Ours

17. Eight Years

And now that the day was actually here, the teasing and mentioning of it was dialed up to one-hundred and Hailey was convinced that she was going to hit him the next time he did it because it was starting to drive her insane that she still didn't know.

Which is how she ends up cornering Jay in the locker room just before they were to set off to the mystery location.

"Will you just tell me already?" She pleads, at this point desperate to know.

Instead of telling her however, Jay grins the same smug smile he owned every time and he shook his head softly. "You'll just have to wait and see."

She then crossed her arms over her chest. "Jay, at this rate we're not making it to nine years married," she says and all he does is hook his eyebrows and stare at her, causing her to throw her head back lightly. "Please will you just tell me? You know I hate surprises."

He seems to genuinely consider it for a moment but then he pulls an exaggerated thinking face and Hailey rolls her eyes, knowing what he was about to say next before he did. Sure enough he looks down from the ceiling (that's just how over-the-top the thinking face was) and meets her gaze blankly again. "No." He replies, earning a groan from his wife in return as she spins on her heels to walk to her locker, deciding to call it quits knowing she wasn't going to get anywhere with him.

xxx

What drove her even more insane was when Jay got her to shut her eyes a few minutes into their drive to wherever. When he said it, she turned her head and stared at his profile.

"You are kidding." She had said, earning another shake of his head as he kept his focus on the road.

"Nope," he said, drawing his lips together to make an emphasized pop sound. "It's either that or I blindfold you."

She isn't convinced by that. "Okay, now you really are kidding."

And that's when she watches as he hooks one of his eyebrows up. "Check the glovebox if you think I'm joking." He dared.

She didn't need to check the compartment to know he was being serious about her options, which is how she ended up with her eyes closed for the remainder of the journey. Occasionally she would take a peek at where they were, but the fact that it was December and after 4pm didn't help her in her search to find out where he was taking her.

A few minutes before he pulled the truck to a stop, she furrowed her brows together. "You know if you've had me on for over a decade to build my trust just to take me somewhere and kill me now, first off hats to you for being one hell of a patient murderer and secondly I will haunt you from my grave for the rest of eternity."

He briefly looked at her and smirked. "Who says you're getting a grave?"

She opened her eyes and stared at him with an open jaw, pretending to be hurt. "Wow. I'm offended, Halstead. I thought you cared more than that."

Even though he had moved his gaze back on to the road, in the corner of his eye he had seen her open hers so he quickly scolded her. "Close your eyes!"

She rolled them as she did, as to which he pointed out that he had seen that too before the truck fell into another comfortable silence until Hailey heard her husband kill the engine from beside her and immediately she spoke up.

"Can I open my eyes now?"

"Not yet."

"Jay, I swear to god just tell me what you're doing."

"Okay open your eyes." He tells her, knowing that she wouldn't stop asking otherwise.

Despite wanting to do it the entire drive over, she blinks her eyes open slowly because she had no idea what she would see outside the front window. It didn't take long for her eyes to adjust, the streetlights were the only thing lighting up outside the truck and she narrowed her eyes as she looked in front of her, confused as to where they were. It wasn't until she looked toward Jay's side that she knew where he had parked up, the large black sign over the door giving it away.