He leaned closer, straining, aching to catch the words through her lip movements.
Luck had been on his side earlier as he slipped through her kitchen just before she came home. Just enough time to brush his fingers across her life. Her favorite coffee cup that she’d put in the dishwasher before she left, the silverware she’d used, the pan that held the ghost of last night’s dinner.
She hadn’t finished her steak. He noticed that detail. She liked it cooked differently than he did, and that was fine. They could work that out together. Couples always compromised.
When she disappeared out of the camera’s frame, his shoulders slumped with disappointment. It was better this way. She was testing him, pulling back, waiting to see if he’d be patient enough, worthy enough.
It still stung that she hadn’t accepted his dinner invitation tonight.
With a sigh, he closed the laptop. The television flickered on, flooding the room with meaningless chatter. None of it mattered. Nothing compared to her.
Meredith was the only story worth watching. The only one worth waiting for.
14
IT CENTERED HIM
Clay was on his front porch with a beer in his hand. The sun had set, but he didn’t care that the only light was his front porch.
Sometimes he needed to sit out here and listen to the sounds of the surrounding land. The animals moving around, the wind in the trees, the scent of the apples in the air.
Or maybe he needed a breather from his interactions with Meredith.
His home was supposed to be his safe haven, yet he walked in the door and smelled her in the air.
The faint essence that clung to her.
Not perfume. He wasn’t sure what it was. Maybe lotion or hair products.
It wasn’t offensive. More like pleasant.
Enough that he inhaled the air in his house so deeply when he entered he thought his lungs would explode.
When he looked into the hall bath and saw her bag on the floor, he understood why the scent was so potent.
That woman was nothing but trouble.
He’d picked the bag up and put it on the dining room table he never used. He’d deal with it tomorrow. Tonight he just needed to get some peace in his life that didn’t want to come.
Headlights were coming down the road. He recognized it as Ford. He hoped his brother would drive by, but instead he pulled into the driveway, parked, and got out.
“What’s going on?” Clay asked.
“Not much.”
“Where’s Reenie?”
“At the cabin,” Ford said. “I was just going there for the night.”
“Then why are you here and not cuddling up with your girlfriend? Or eating the dinner she probably has warming for you?”
“Don’t be jealous,” Ford said, coming up and sitting next to him on the porch.
Didn’t look as if he was going to get rid of his brother that easily.
“Hard not to be. But she’s been bringing me food too.”
“She’s good that way,” Ford said.
