Not. Easy. At. All.
She moved his hand just a little higher.
And I’m making it worse.
They pulled onto her street and—just her rotten luck—she saw Leslie the HOA president who had it in for her out power-walking—
“Wait. Are youkiddingme?” Sylvie slowed down. Sure enough, her eyes weren’t fooling her. The woman had a brand-new dog on a leash. One that looked under thirty-five pounds, of course.
“What?” Alex narrowed his eyes at Leslie. “Oh, is that the bit—woman—who’s giving you grief?”
“Yes, and the dog is brand new.”
Leslie arched an eyebrow and sneered at Sylvie as she drove by. Sylvie showed incredible restraint by not flipping her off.
“She’s really rubbing it in your face, isn’t she?”
“You think?” Sylvie growled in frustration. “I am definitely not wanted here.” She felt the cold fingers of an emotion she hadn’t felt since she was on the streets as it went creeping up through her insides. The feeling of shame and rejection.
Sylvie pulled in behind the townhouses and into her garage. She turned off the ignition and rested her head on the steering wheel. She felt Alex’s warm hand on the back of her neck, massaging it. Her next growl was one of pleasure.
“This has to be harder for you than for other people.”
She turned her head to look at him, resting her cheek on the back of her hand. “Harder than other people? Why?”
“Having been homeless. And now they’re trying to force you to move along. It’s gotta be bringing something up.”
“I hadn’t thought of it like that.” A bitter, metallic taste filled her mouth and she swallowed it down where it settled like lead in her stomach. “But yeah, maybe that’s why I feel so defeated. I went straight from living with George and Cynthia to here. I don’t even think I want to stay now. Well, I definitely don’t want to stay if I can’t have Chewie. But, I’m too tired to fight them anymore and I know they’ll drag things out for years. The evil of HOAs.”
Alex leaned in close and kissed her hair. “Get some sleep. You don’t need to decide anything now.” He tilted her head up and she leaned in for a long kiss.
“Thanks for staying tonight,” he said. “I appreciated the company, both with Champ and after.”
“If I seem distant in class or at the kennels,” she started. “When the training is over…” she let her words trail off.
Alex buried his fingers in her hair. “I understand. It’ll be easier then.”
“I don’t regret this. And I still want to see you in the meantime.” Was she even making any sense?
Alex’s gaze went soft. “I haven’t let a woman this deep into my life since my divorce. I’m not about to let you go. We’ll figure this out as we go along.” He turned and opened the car door. They got out and kissed one last time before Alex made his way through the dim morning light to his SUV. Sylvie watched him drive away feeling as if she were in a dream.
* * *
When her phonewoke her up, Sylvie wasn’t sure where she was for a moment. She wasn’t the type of person to nap, not even on her days off.
She picked up the phone without looking at who was calling. “Hello?” she mumbled.
“Sylvie? Are you alright?”
“Dad? Yeah. I’m fine. I was just—”
Recovering from an amazing night of glorious sex. Yeah, maybe don’t say that.
“—lying down with a little bit of a headache.”
“Ah.” He sounded a little disappointed. “I’ll let you go then.”
“No, wait. You sound like you wanted to talk. What’s up? I’m fine, feeling better.” Sylvie sat up and peered at the blinds. The light peeking in around the edges told her it was early afternoon. Time to get up anyway if she wanted to sleep that night. And she’d just talked to George the day before last. It wasn’t like him to call back so soon. He loved his daughter but he was no brooding hen.
