“As for not working, I was burned out before all that, and I want to do something more than fix a company’s problems and move on to the next town and hotel. So, here I am.” I splayed my arms out. “Living it up at the senior center.”
“And I’m glad you are.” Lee’s smile was finally easy.
“My mother is too. Although coming to her doorstep looking like I did probably took a couple of years off her life.” I leaned my elbows on the table. “Since I’m jobless, know of any openings in the neighborhood?”
“Ever work in babysitting?” Lee quipped, thanking the waitress when she placed the bread basket between us.
“I’ve taken care of Braden when I’ve stayed with Gary and Libby. He’s still alive, so I guess I did okay.” I laughed, reaching for a piece of bread.
I expected Lee to laugh with me, but he stilled, his brows drawing together.
“What?”
“What if you…babysat for me? Well, for Bennie.”
I choked on a piece of Italian bread when I realized he wasn’t kidding.
“Lee, I don’t know?—”
“Hear me out. You need a place to stay. And I don’t like the idea of you being alone if that asshole or anyone else comes looking for you.”
“If they haven’t by now, they probably won’t,” I said, almost believing it. Setting up residency with a real address still made me a little uneasy, but I’d have no choice soon.
“We have good neighbors who always kept an eye on my mother and sister when Tom and I were away. They’d watch you too, and you wouldn’t be alone, even when I’m on the road. We have a full security system and a doorbell camera, so you’d be safe. You’d have to sleep in my sister’sold room when I’m gone, but when I’m home, you could have my mother’s apartment if you wanted some privacy. Remember, we used to rent it out and have movie nights when it was vacant?”
I nodded, more nostalgia pulling at my chest. We’d all sit on the old plastic-covered couch, and Lee would stretch his arm behind me, making my heart sing loud enough to drown out the movie.
A few hours ago, I’d feared I wasn’t ready to see Lee while I was feeling so raw, and now he was asking me to move in with him.
And despite my protest, I was considering it.
“Bennie hasn’t seen me in a long time and doesn’t know me other than from when we video chat. Won’t she feel weird having me live with you guys and take care of her?”
Lee laughed and shook his head.
“My daughter doesn’t know a stranger,” he said with a wistful smile. “I think she’d love it if you came to stay with us. Girl energy and all that.”
I rolled my eyes.
“You’re really serious about this?”
“Yes, I am. I’d trust you and Gary with my life—and my kid. I wouldn’t worry about you or her if you moved in.”
The more he spoke, the more he made sense. This was an offer that would help us both, if I wasn’t so terrified to take it.
“And I’d pay you.”
“No way,” I said, leaning back from the table and shaking my head. “I’m not living rent-freeandtaking money from you.”
I squeezed the back of my neck, taking in the hope in Lee’s gaze. He was right; I had nowhere to go and no clue what I wanted my next move to be. I’d spent a lot of timewith my nephew, but I was the fun-vacation aunt, not the do-your-homework and go-to-bed parent.
Still, the idea of hiding out without a set address for a little while longer did give me some relief. I wouldn’t have to camp out on my mother’s couch, waiting for facility management to throw me out, and taking care of Bennie might divert my mind from the constantwhere did I go wrongquestions that had plagued me ever since I’d left Ohio.
I could do this.
While living in the house of my lifelong, hopeless crush.
“We can sort all that out. I think you and Bennie would get along great. She could learn a lot from you.”
