He crosses his arms and fixes his gaze on the conversation and laughter drifting from the table a few feet away. “I heard you were living with my brother.”
My eyes snap toward him. “Are you here to warn me away in case I might be trouble?”
He looks at me, and although I search for a hint that he doesn’t like me, I don’t find it.
“And why would you think that?” he asks, his tone frustratingly neutral.
Tension radiates down my spine as I prepare to defend myself. “Because you waited until Joel was distracted before you came over to talk to me.”
“Joel broke his arm jumping from a tree when my mom accidentally started a fire in the kitchen, and my dad was at work. He was eight.”
I blink. “Huh?”
He turns back to the men at the table. “He was born with this need to help anyone and everything—person, cat, dog, hamster. It’s hard-wired into him.”
“Hamster?”
A small smile plays on his lips. “Waffles, his class pet, went missing when someone didn’t shut the cage door properly.Joel launched a one-man search-and-rescue operation while his teacher tried unsuccessfully to get him to sit down.”
I laugh. “How old was he?” I don’t just see humor stirring in his gaze, but pride.
“Six.”
My heart melts. I look at Joel, smiling as he flips through the sticker book with Ben, and I just want to hug and kiss him.
“Did he find Waffles?” I ask, heart in my throat.
Please let this story end well. Not only for me, but for six-year-old Joel.
“Yeah. It was a cooler day, and Waffles had burrowed under a coat to keep warm. Mrs. Morgan had a long talk with our mom when she picked up Joel. Mom just shook her head and said, ‘That’s Joel.’”
“That’s a really sweet story, but why are you telling me?”
“I don’t know what your plans are, but you couldn’t have found a better person than my brother.” He squints at me. “If you tell him I said that, I’ll deny it.”
I grin. “Your secret is safe with me.”
Except for the story about Waffles. That’s too adorable to keep to myself.
Stuffing his hands in his pockets, he shifts his attention from me to the men chatting. “My brother will tell you I live in my office, and I don’t care what goes on outside these four walls unless it pertains to my job.I’mtelling you I keep my ears open so I know when someone blows into town and might need a little help. Part of it is my job.”
I tilt my head. “And the other part?”
“I was a step behind Joel, rushing to help our mom put out that fire. I’d say we were cut from the same cloth. My dad’s the same. He’s a retired paramedic.”
“Do they still live in town?” I ask, since Joel hasn’t mentioned them and they haven’t come to the house.
“They’re in California, at least for now. Once Dad retired, he promised he’d do all the traveling Mom had wanted to do for years. She was a homemaker and wanted to see more of the world before they got too old to. There’s probably a lesson there.”
“Don’t wait until you’re old to do the things you love. You might not make it,” I say quietly, remembering the road trip I always planned to take with Simon but never did.
I left Memphis to get away from my grief, and I can’t pinpoint the exact point when I stopped wanting to run and started living in the moment.
“Joel said you’re from Memphis.”
I nod. “Weldon. It’s a small town where I grew up. We were on a road trip.”
"Are you going to go back or continue on this road trip?”
