Page 23 of Lovewell Lane

“No,” I answered. I just got out of my bed in the middle of the night to pick her up from a dive bar. Why would she think I hated her?

“You can be honest, it won’t hurt my feelings.”

“I don’t care about your feelings.” Fuck. I never seemed to know the right thing around her, and that definitely wasn’t it. “I am being honest, I meant.”

She gave me a weird look. Then after a moment of silence, she gasped. Immediately, I reached over to put my forearm acrossher stomach, assuming she saw something on the road that I didn’t.

“What?” I demanded.

“Nothing, I-” she looked at me with an incredulous smile. “Do I make younervous?”

I dropped my arm from acting as a makeshift second seatbelt for her. “Don’t do that. I thought there was a deer or something.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” she laughed. “Answer the question.”

“No, you don’t make me nervous.” My voice sounded robotic, even to me. I held my breath to make sure the sound of my heartbeat didn’t give me away. She made me distracted, was what she made me. Ever since the second she stepped into this town, nothing had gone to plan.

I pulled in front of my house and helped her jump down from the truck into the dirt of my driveway. We walked together around the side of the house to her place in silence. She wouldn’t stop glancing over at me with a giddy smile.

“I’m not drunk, ya’ know. I can walk on my own,” she sing-songed.

“I know.” I turned to stalk up my back porch to grab a couple of things. She was still fumbling with her key when I returned. “I’ll get some lights put up back here. Take this.”

She turned to look down at the ibuprofen and water I gave her. “Even if you’re ‘not drunk’ this will help in the morning.”

“There’s no need for air quotes, I’m actually sober, Derek. But thank you, really. This won’t happen again.” The sound of her saying my name in that tone nearly knocked me out. I needed to go to bed. Maybe take a cold shower first.

I resolved myself to not stare at her ass filling out those jeans again as I turned to walk away. Tonight, she was dressed like she belonged here. I needed to remind myself that this was all temporary, she’d be out of here before summer.

“Don’t worry about it. Goodnight.”

I was already taking the first step on my porch when I heard her call out. “Night.”

Slick stared at me as I walked back inside the house. He sat in the same place on the giant brown overstuffed couch that I left him on when I asked him to stay up in case Tess needed anything while I picked up Margo.

“Everything okay, son?”

“It’s fine, her car just broke down, and she was alone.”

“With you, son,” he repeated. “Is everything okay?”

I took a heavy seat next to him. “All good, I just didn’t want to leave Tessa alone.”

“You know I’ll be gone on my trip to Alaska soon.”

I scrubbed my face. “You won’t let me forget it.”

“And you’re getting older,” he continued. “I think it would be good for you to get to know your neighbor more.”

“Margo?”

“Yes, you seem to like her.”

I stood up. Too tired to even entertain this conversation. “Dad, everything I do is for Tessa. And our family, but Tessa will always come first. Dating some woman who will likely leave in less than a year is the worst thing I could do for Tess.”

I’d read plenty of books about parental abandonment and the trauma that comes along with it. Tessa already had one mom dip out on her, there was no way I was leaving a chance of it happening to her again. Even if I drilled it in her head for the rest of her life that she was loved and worthy of love, kids internalize that shit.

Slick raised his hands as a sign of surrender. “We can talk about it another time.” Hopefully not. “I’ll see you in the morning, goodnight.”

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