“What the hell is bothering you?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “I can’t understand why I feel these things. I—I don’t love you.”
He laughed. “Love has nothing to do with it.”
“Have you been in love?”
“Me? In love?” He laughed really hard at that. “Only with my hand.”
She looked at him then, her head cocked slightly. “Don’t think about it. That was a barrel house joke.”
“Yes, well, I expect you’ve more experience than I have at those kinds of things.”
“Yeah. Years of experience.”
She stiffened and stepped away from him, and he realized she had no idea he’d been joking about his age as much as teasing her. Smitty, with her healthy sense of humor, had suddenly lost it.
He stared at the back of her stiff neck for a few seconds, then grinned. “No reason to be jealous, sweetheart.”
She whipped around, her mouth hanging open. “What?”
“I told you before. No wife.” He raised his arms out in surrender. “No lover. No reason to be jealous.”
She snapped her mouth closed and gave him a long, narrowed look.
“I’m all yours.”
She just stood there. A moment later she raised a hand to her cheek in mock surprise. “And to think they say there’s no such thing as a miracle.”
Even he had to laugh at that. But she wasn’t laughing.
They looked at each other at the same time. The silence seemed to drag by as slowly as days in solitary.
He stepped closer to her. “What’s wrong with just grabbing it, sweetheart? Take the chance for a little fun. I promise you’ll have a helluva lot of fun.” He drew his finger slowly over her stubborn chin. “Thinking about it will only complicate things.”
She stiffened and shifted away a couple of steps. “Nothing seems to make sense anymore. You don’t make sense. Ihaveto think about it.”
“You think enough for both of us. Hell, Smitty, you think enough for the whole damn world.”
“Well, one of us has to use their head.”
He laughed.
She gave him one of her direct looks. “Your head’s too hard to be of much use.”
“My head among other things,” he muttered to himself.
She turned and started to walk away.
“Oh, no, you don’t. You’re not walking away this time.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her to him so swiftly she stumbled. He was right there, ready, and he caught her before she could even blink and swung her up into his arms.
“If you think you can manhandle me, Hank, think again.”
He didn’t say anything.
“Put me down.”
“I can’t decide if you need heating up or cooling off, Smitty.” He started walking out into the water. A small wave splattered past them. “My guess is you need cooling off. Especially since Lydia can swim like a fish now.”
