He blinked. “What?”
“Come down. Are you having a meal at your place?”
Uh...He hadn’t given it a thought. What would the girls want to do? “I suppose I could.”
“Great. I’ll be there. Can I come the night before and sleep in your guest room?”
“Of course.” Surely Erykah would be in a new place by then. Thanksgiving was a couple of weeks away.
“Then I’ll see you then. Bye, hon.”
“Bye, Mom.”
He stared at his phone. What had just happened? He looked into the car, and his breath hitched. Whathadn’thappened?
Nineteen
Chris’s three-story home didnotprovide the amount of space I needed.
Everywhere I turned, his comforting scent followed. How did the man hang around animals all day and work outdoors but not stink? Talk about unreal. Instead, he smelled like pine or something woodsy. My senses went on high alert whenever I caught the aroma trailing him like a cartoon. Guess that made me a toucan, because I definitely wanted to follow my nose.
You’re losing it, Erykah. Get it together.
Someone with my education shouldn’t be having a mind melt whenever a certain man neared. I’d managed to get all the way to forty-one and not lose my cool over a man. But remembering the way he cupped my cheek, eyes darkening with intent to kiss ... Well, there was a first time for everything.
But that’s an event I refuse to think about.
I swallowed. I needed space.
Taking dinner out of the oven, I set the dish on top of the stove. A piercing scream rent the air.
“Cheyenne!” I dropped the oven mitts and raced to the living room.
Cheyenne held her left hand as tears streamed down her face.
“What happened, sweetie?” I dropped to my knees, trying to figure out what was wrong with her.
“Are you okay?” Chris huffed as he ran in from wherever he’d been.
“No,” Cheyenne wailed. “There’s a piece of wood sticking out of my finger.”
I blinked. That 1970s horror scream had stopped my heart because of a splinter?
“Let me see.” Chris knelt down before her. “Oh yeah, I see it. I can pull it out.”
“No way!” Cheyenne jerked her finger, then whimpered. “It hurts too bad.”
“Sweetie, if you let Chris take it out, it’ll feel better.”
The shade my niece tossed me would’ve shaken me coming from an adult. As it was, I had to bite down on my lip to keep from laughing. How had I never known how much of a drama queen Cheye was?
Tears pricked my eyes as I thought of Ellynn missing this.
“How about you hold Charlie while I take it out?” Chris asked. “That way he’ll make sure you won’t feel any pain.”
“He’s a puppy. He doesn’t have powers like that.”
Chris’s lips twitched as if suppressing a smile. “Actually, holding dogs has been scientifically proven to make us happier. So if you’re happy while I remove this piece of wood, you won’t notice when it’s gone. Well, you will because the pain will go away too.”
