“Oh, it’ll always be a heist to me.” I’m staring at her for too long, so I motion for the large backpack she’s slung on her shoulders. “Here, let me help with some of this stuff.”
Charlotte smiles. “If you just want to grab the therapy balls, they’re mine from home, I’ll get this stack of things and we’ll be on our way.”
Wearing a big backpack and carrying a stack of papers and small boxes, she can’t lock the door behind her, so I fish her keys out of a pocket in her backpack and do it for her.
We reach my car and I pop the trunk. “Put all that stuff in here.”
She puts the backpack in there but keeps a firm grip on the items in her hands. She presses them to her chest. “If I put these down, they’ll fly all over your trunk.”
We get in and she rests the stack of papers and things in her lap.
“So, do you want to come over to my place?”
“What about Miley?”
“We could stop and grab her and bring her over.”
“Well, I checked on her a couple of hours ago when I ran home to eat dinner before the event and she was fine then. Honestly, I kind of just want to go hang out with you.”
“She’s a sweetie, but…I kind of agree with you,” I say.
She drops her head against the headrest. “Oh no, we’re horrible cat parents. Our kitten is going to grow up scarred!”
I like the thought of Miley being “our kitten.” I mean, it’s felt that way these past few weeks, but I really like how it sounds.
“So, how do you feel about tonight?” I ask.
She gives a tired sigh. “I feel really good about it. Of course, we couldn’t diagnose anything, and the majority of the kids presented with completely normal gait patterns. But we had a few that we referred to various places.”
“I think it’s awesome you did that. Such a great idea.”
She nods. “The goal is every quarter. I’d been working on an initiative to provide free screenings in this area. But I don’t even know where I’ll be working, so who knows if this is something I can do in the future.”
“Heard anything back about the job in Austin?” My stomach twists to one side as I think about her possibly relocating. See? This is why it’s inadvisable to have such strong feelings for her. If I’m traded, how much worse will it be?”
“Not a thing. I reached out and touched base with the people who interviewed me and no response. I guess that’s a ‘no,’ right?” She rests her elbows on the stack of things in her lap. “My coworkers have new jobs lined up.”
“It’ll come. Trust the process.”
She glances over at me and gives me a look of one part gratitude and one part sadness. Or fear.
“Hey, it’s going to be okay,” I say. “You’ve got this.”
We pull up to my house, a newer, four thousand square foot home in a gated community. Charlotte whistles. “I like your place.”
“Thanks, me too.” Nerves broil up in me. Can I keep my wits about me with Charlotte in my home? I’ve felt ready to have her over for a while now. And as she walks through the garage door and into the mudroom, a feeling of rightness settles inside of me.
It feels good to have her here.
“You’ve got good taste,” Charlotte says, her eyes wide. “It’s like cozy chic meets rich man with a minimalist complex.”
“That would be the interior designer I brought in when I bought the place my rookie year.”
“Ah, okay. I like it.” It’s masculine with some luxurious touches like the marble countertops with flecks of gold and the wall-to-wall, apple green built-in shelving all along one wall of the great room.
She turns to face me and that’s when I realize it: The whole front of her is imprinted with green ink in splotches and rifts.
Chapter 26
