I know everyone is ready for spring, but I prefer the coziness of wintertime. It reminds me of childhood and the time I spent with my parents in the woods. A crackling fireplace, a warm pot of soup on the stove, homemade bread and cookies, my dad reading aloud from a book while Mom and I cuddled up in one of her quilts. I want Jasper to have those memories too.
“That doesn’t mean change is easy,” Wade says as he shifts the truck into gear and pulls away from the curb.
I should ride quietly. I shouldn’t open up about my feelings. For one, Wade probably doesn’t want to hear them. I’m sure he was joking about the stalking thing. I bet he was getting dinner when he saw us. Two, I don’t want to be the girl who airs all her dirty laundry. I’m not sure if it’s the stress of the moment or what, but I start talking despite all my better judgment.
“I mean, what if Pete’s right and I really am too much? What if no one ever loves me again and I spend the rest of my life alone because, turns out, Iwasasking for too much all along?”
“What are you asking for?” He keeps one hand on the wheel, the other resting on his knee as he watches the road ahead.
I shake my head as I stare out into the darkness. “I don’t need love to be perfect, but I want someone who cares about my feelings. Someone who wants to protect my heart. Someone who desires me for whoIam, ya know?”
I exhale softly as I fidget again with the string on my sweater. “Like, if I come across a stray dog and my heart wants to bring her home, I want to know someone is going to love mebecauseI’m that girl, not be mad at me because I didn’t ask them first.” I narrow my gaze and look at him. “I want to be that love for someone else too,” I shrug, “but maybe it’s asking too much.”
Wade glances toward me in the dark light of the truck, the silver in his beard highlighted by the moonlight. “Honey, you’re not asking for too much. You’re asking the wrong man.”
His words are short and few, but they settle inside of me like the glowing warmth from a fireplace on a cold snowy night, and for a second, I feel something mending inside of me.
One sentence, that’s all it took.
Maybe he’s right. Maybe I’ve been asking the wrong man.
Chapter Four
Wade
I’ve never been this man before. You know, the one who stalks a woman and drives her and her child away from their home in the dead of night. I’d bet that guy doesn’t have a lot of friends. I can’t imagine he gets the girl in the long run either.
How could he?
She’s fragile right now. Raw. She needs a shoulder, a listening ear, someone who’s going to be gentle and soft. A friend. Not some asshole who hasn’t been able to stop thinking about what she’d look like with nothing on. Not some asshole that laid in bed wishing she were in his arms, on his cock, filled up with his come.
Fuck! I need to get a grip. I want her to feel safe here. At the core, that’s the goal. I need to suppress all this sexual tension.
“Are you always up this early?” She stretches her arms into the air, lifting an oversized Aerosmith T-shirt up her thigh.
This is intentional, right? There’s no way she’d saunter out here with her thick, creamy thighs exposed if she wasn’t interested.
I clear my throat and take a sip of coffee. “Mornin’ chores.”
“I bet!” She sits down across from me at the island. “I didn’t realize you lived on a farm until last night. I liked falling asleep to all the animal sounds. We don’t get things like that intown, though I did hear a racoon in the back bin a few nights ago.”
“Yeah, it’s pretty nice out here. A lot of work but it’s worth it.” I pour her a cup of coffee and set it down in front of her with the cream and sugar. “They’re on a schedule though. I miss breakfast by ten minutes, and everyone gets cranky.”
“Same, if I’m being honest.” She grins and takes a donut from the box on the counter. “Are these from Josie’s?”
“Yup! Sorry I polished off the last bear claw yesterday. I didn’t know I’d be having company.”
That gains me a smile. “I’ll forgive you considering you did Jasper and I a huge favor last night. Thank you!” She reaches across the table and lands her hand on mine. “I mean it. I shudder to think where we’d have ended up. Plus, I slept better than I have in months and Jasper is still asleep, so I doubt he’s going to complain.”
“Good, I was worried y’all wouldn’t be warm enough. I forgot to tell you about the extra blankets in the hope chest.”
She dips her donut in the coffee and takes a bite, talking casually with her mouth full as though we’re old friends. “Oh, you have a hope chest? I didn’t see it.”
I glance down then up again slowly. “My, ugh, my wife… she had this dream to turn this place into a farm, so she bought that chest to store things that were taking up space for equipment.”
“Oh!” Her eyes widen. “I didn’t realize you were married. I’m—”
“No,” I grin, “I’m not. She passed away years ago. It was a sudden accident on the road between here and the Springs. It took years for me to rationalize it. Every ounce of me wanted some sort of cosmic justification. That somewhere there was an answer for why she could be here one day and not the next.”
