“Her words, darlin’. Not mine. Anyway, neither one of my parents were worth a nickel with a hole in it. I knew I would never get married or have kids. Now look at me. An old man bickering at my son over broken Christmas lights.”
His laugh brings a smile to my face.
“An old man who rescues his neighbors from their dangerous bathroom floors in his spare time.”
He grins down at me with a lifted eyebrow. “Don’t forget I also breed and ride horses when not rescuing beautiful women.”
I let out a guffaw when he winks at me.
Applause on the television captures our attention, and Joel and I settle in to watch the on-screen performances.
By the time Lena Clarke-Townsend comes on the screen, the audience, Joel, and I are primed for her appearance.
Lena begins singing a jazzy version of “Silent Night” which is beautiful. One song flows into the next. While she has a few original songs on the album, it mostly contains her version of many of the classics we all know and love.
I curl my legs onto the couch, underneath me, and lean into Joel without thought. Here, underneath his arm, laying on hisshoulder, bobbing my head along to the music feels natural. It feels like the most perfect place in the world.
So right that I forget my inhibitions and start humming along to the music. My humming eventually turns into me singing along with the lyrics.
It’s when Joel makes a noise at the back of his throat that I catch myself.
“Excuse me,” I say. “I didn’t mean to distract you from the music.”
He narrows his eyes, cocking his head to the side. “You have a beautiful voice.”
My heart instantly melts inside of my chest. I can’t help but recall back to the times my ex-husband would get upset with me for singing along to music as we listened. Eventually, I learned to censor myself.
That led me to stop singing along to all music, even when I was by myself. I tried so hard, early on in my marriage, not to make too many waves or to be a burden to my husband. Over the years, I lost so many pieces of myself, I forgot who I was.
It wasn’t until I lived alone that I started to sing again.
“You can sing along anytime you want around me,” he says as if he knows exactly what I need to hear.
My hand flattens against his chest. The beat of his heart beneath my hand is so strong, a reminder that I’m not imagining any of this.
However, it’s when Joel’s eyes drop to my lips that my heart almost gives out. The impulse to beg him to kiss me overwhelms me.
But once again we’re interrupted by the action on the screen.
Applause sounds, making Joel turn back to the television in time to see Lena begin her final song of the evening.
CHAPTER 13
Joel
It’s damn near painful the moment Ellyn separates herself from my body to stand.
“I should head home,” she says.
I might only be a former gangster and hitman for my father turned rancher, but I’m damn certain I hear a hint of reluctance in Ellyn’s voice when she says this.
Rising to my feet as well, I tell her, “I’ll walk you.”
There’s not a chance in hell that I’ll let her walk back to her house alone.
Though Harlington is an extremely safe town and our neighborhood hasn’t had a break-in or any crime in years, it’s dark out and the thought of Ellyn walking alone anywhere in the dark doesn’t sit right with me.
I’ll take every opportunity I can to be in her presence for as long as I can. That’s the conclusion I’ve come to throughout the past few hours while holding her curled in my arms as we watched my daughter-in-law perform her heart out.
