CADDO
Going back and forth between the house that Seaton was renting and his own was a little bit of a mind bender.
Her house had the exact same structure except it was reversed, a kind of mirror world. When he'd taken her back home after their lunch at the diner, he'd nearly walked into the wall that defined the entry way.
It gave Seaton a little laugh.
She'd tried to apologize for laughing, but he'd headed her off at the pass.
She didn't have to apologize. Hell, he'd been laughing at himself anyway.
It's not every day that you nearly walk into a wall because you expected the wall to be on the other side of you. Muscle memory wasn’t always a help.
Now, there was a chance that during dinner, she might walk in the opposite direction of the bathroom if she had to use it.
Sam looked up at the clock on the wall when he heard a car pulling into his driveway.
"Right on time."
He took the tray of buttered bread and put it in the oven.
Washing his hands, he walked out front and saw that Lincoln had arrived and he'd come with a woman.
Sam stepped down from the porch and walked over to greet his friend. "Abe! You're right on time."
Lincoln looked at the woman he'd helped out of the car and rolled his eyes. "I told you."
Laughing, the woman beside him gave him a smack on his arm. "You're always right, Lincoln. Now, hurry up and move, or get the dishes out of the back."
Sam saw the way that Lincoln gave the woman a little bow as if he was trying to be a gentleman, but her reaction lightened the mood.
With a groan she walked around him and bumped his butt with her hip, sending him lurching forward half a step.
When Lincoln asked if he could bring a friend, Sam was happy to say yes. He wanted to give Seaton a chance to see who he was, not just the two of them together, but who he was on a daily basis. He also didn’t want her to be outnumbered. He had a feeling that a situation like that would be a bad idea.
That and on their drive back to their homes, she'd admitted that she was a little hesitant about dinner at his house.
He understood.
Eating together at the diner was different than the two of them alone.
Even with the addition of Lincoln, he could understand why she was a little nervous.
Two men. One she barely knew.
The other, she'd met his father, but even that was different.
And he was already aware that there was something of a shadow in her life before she came to his neighborhood. May had already clued him into it.
Not the full situation but a general direction of it.
So adding another woman was a good idea, so he would have to thank Lincoln later, likely at the firehouse. Seaton didn't need to know how they were trying to make her feel better, easier with them.
If they said it that would likely have the opposite effect.
She might pull back and he didn't want that.
He wouldn't stop her from feeling a certain way.
