I stepped up on the porch and raised my hand to knock, hesitating briefly before rapping on the door. At first, there was silence, and I almost dropped the brace and ran, but before I could plan my escape route, the front door swung open, and Nina Butler appeared. She was smiling, but I knew it was because she always smiled, no matter who came to the door. Her eyes landed on me, and it took a moment, albeit a concise moment, for recognition to cross her features.
“Peyton Blake,” she said with a grin and a tsk of her tongue. “Child, it has been far too long.”
“Hi, Mrs. Butler,” I said, unable to resist returning the older woman’s kind, motherly smile. “It’s been a while.”
Before I could offer the knee brace or explain why I was there, Nina pulled me into a hug with the strength of a hundred men, squeezing me until I thought I might pop. When she released me, stepping back to look me up and down, a flurry of emotion tugged at my heart, and I almost teared up just seeing this woman again.
“Peyton,” she said. “Boy, have we missed your smiling face around here.”
“I’m sorry to come by without notice,” I said, holding the knee brace out to her. “I saw Korbin today, and he left this at the clinic. I don’t know where he’s living now or his phone number, so I hoped you still called this house home.”
“Oh, sweetie, come in, come in,” said Nina excitedly. “Korbin will be so glad you’re here.”
“Wait,” I said, hesitating on the porch. “Korbin is h—?”
“Korbin!” Nina shouted, cutting me off as she turned back into the house. I had no choice but to follow her, not unless I wanted to throw the brace at her and bail so I wouldn’t have to face Korbin again. But I couldn’t do that, not to Nina, so I stepped into the house behind her and closed the door, looking around warily.
The home hadn’t changed since I’d been here last, and it felt just as warm and inviting as always. The smell of fresh baked bread and homemade Italian marinara sauce reached my nose, and I closed my eyes for a brief moment to recall every good memory I’d ever had in this place, relishing it. Minus Korbin’s father, of course, who had somehow completed this cozy home in a way nobody else could.
“What is it, Ma?” a voice said from down the hallway, and a moment later, Korbin hobbled out, looking just as pitiful as earlier. He stopped when he saw me, and for a long, tense moment, I was almost sure he’d tell me to turn around and leave.
But he didn’t.
“What’s up, Peyton?” he said instead, and my free hand clenched into a tight fist as I glared at him. Punching him in the face while he was already incapacitated in front of his own mother might not be the way to go.
“You left your brace at the clinic,” I said, stepping forward without thinking twice about it to secure the brace back around his knee. “I didn’t know where you were living now, so I figured that if I brought it here, Nina would sooner get it back to you than I would be able to.”
“I see,” Korbin muttered as I tightened and secured the brace, kneeling awkwardly on the floor. He looked pleased that I was down there, and the familiar twinkle in his eyes was evident. “I’m surprised that you’re talking to me now.”
“What do you mean?” I stood up and took a step back to give him some room. Of course, I knew exactly what he was talking about, but I wasn’t about to get into it with him, not in front of Nina, and not for my mental health.
“You acted like I was invisible this morning,” he said. “Like you didn’t see me.”
“I always see you,” I said quietly, and at this point, I could see Nina stepping back out of the corner of my eye, giving us room to bitch at each other, apparently. “But ignoring you, Korbin is self-preservation.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked.
I closed my eyes, wanting to mentally kick myself for even explaining this to him. “I have to go. I’ll see you next week, yeah?”
“No,” he said. “Not next week. Now.”
“I’m leaving.” Before I could head for the door, Korbin shook his head, hobbling forward until we were close again and he was blocking the door.
“Can we talk?” he asked, shooting a glance over his shoulder to where Nina was puttering around in the kitchen, stopping every once in a while to hold her breath and eavesdrop.
“Korbin, are you really still living with your mother?” I asked, and he shook his head. I knew I had no room to talk, but still. Hadn’t he moved on at all? The five-o clock shadow on his face was prominent, but the rugged look only made him much more attractive in my book, and I hated it. I hated the attraction I felt for him. I hatedhim.
“Of course not, Peyton,” he said, and I cringed at my old nickname. Only Korbin had ever called me Peyton, and while I had found it endearing at one time, I just found it infuriating. “It’s temporary because of this knee. I have a third-story walk-up, and…I can’t exactly walk, can I?”
“I guess not.”
Korbin grinned, that charming, self-assured grin that I used to love so much making my knees weak. “So, how about dinner?” he asked, lowering his voice into a slight purr like he was some guy just flirting with some woman. “I’ll buy.”
“You’ll buy?” I repeated with fake laughter, taking a step back from him. “Hell, yeah, you’ll buy, Butler.” Even being in the same room with him was almost too intoxicating to face.
“You driving?” he asked, and I pointedly looked at his leg.
“Do I have a choice?”
