Page 17 of If This is Love

His eyes and hands continued to inspect my head, neck, and arms, andhow did he know my name?

This good Samaritan had been introduced to me at some point, but I couldn’t place him. I’d met a lot of new people this week. Last Saturday at the animal shelter, Sunday at one of the churches in the neighborhood, two meetings with Skye and her team, and the meeting organized by Chloe Laurent, who was a local reporter working on a story about Destination Destiny.

I must’ve met this man at some point this week and just forgot, and that made all of itso much worse.

“I’m sure I’m okay,” I said sheepishly. “I’m so sorry to trouble you like this. You’re very kind.”

His mouth quirked like he was holding back a smile. “Nah, just being a good Samaritan.”

That made me smile and internally cringe. I was only calling him that in my mind because Iforgot who he was.

Ugh.

Jax poked his big, black head and slobbery tongue into my line of sight, followed by a calm and handsome yellow lab, who dipped his head and sniffed gingerly close to my nose as if checking on me.

“Tcht. Gunner,back.” The man turned his head sharply to look at the dogs. “Sit. You too, Jax.”

Both dogs sat.

Gunner.

I knewGunner. Gunner was the service dog from Chloe’s meeting. He had been with a man whose name had escaped me because I’d been so flustered after showing up late.

Andnow,that kind andextremely handsomeman had come to my aid, and for the lifeof me, I couldn’t remember his name. He rememberedmyname, and he’d helped me,andcaught my dog, and I couldn’t even remember his name, and part of me wished I’d been right about this being the gates of heaven.

“Okay, honey.” He sighed out the words as he turned from the dogs to me, the term of endearment falling so naturally from his lips that it was like we’d known each other for years. “If it’s okay, I’m going to slide my arms under you and lift you while you sit up. You can’t use your hands ‘cuz of the road rash, and you don’t want to put any strain on your back after falling.”

He was so considerate, too, andhow could I forget his name?

Double ugh.

“That’s completely fine,” I said apologetically, and then he didn’t hesitate to carefully slip his hands between my back and the concrete. “I’m so sorry to trouble you with all this mess.”

“Nah, Ruth,” he said easily as he got his arms under me, effectively hugging me by holding me so close to his chest, and he smelledso good. Like black coffee and one hundred percentman. “We just take care of our own around here.”

I fought the urge to lower my cheek to his clavicle as he lifted me to sit up. “We?”

“Yeah, we. Everybody.” He released me and inched backward but kept his hand on my shoulder. “Like a good neighbor and all that jazz.”

A quick, light laugh spilled from my mouth, and I dabbed the corner of my eye with the side of my finger. “You’re cute.”

He was quite a bit more than justcute.

“Nah.” He nodded at my ankle. “I wouldn’t recommend walking on that.”

Everything in my body hurt, so I wasn’t surprised to see swelling in my ankle already. “Ohno,” I mumbled, leaning over my leg. “That’s going to be bad later.”

“Yeah, you’ll need to keep it wrapped.” His silver eyes flicked to meet mine. “My house is right up the street. I can wrap it for you, and I’ve got a set of crutches that you can use until you can get it looked at.” He paused as his eyes darted from my face like he was suddenly sheepish. “Would you be okay coming over?”

“Oh, I…”Alonein his house with him. Oh, the elders would have alotto say about that, but none of them were here. “I would be completely okay with that, but I really hate to trouble you even more.”

He looked at me again, this time with an incredulous squint. “It’s no trouble, Ruth. I live right back there at the end of the block, and you’re not going to get very far on your own like this.”

I offered him my most gracious smile. “I would appreciate it so much.”

His lips parted like he was going to say something, his gaze meeting mine, but the words never came, and he just looked at me for a second. Or maybe he was lookingthroughme? I couldn’t figure it out.

He abruptly dropped his gaze from mine and gently picked up my wrist, leaning toward me so he could drape my arm over his shoulders, then he effortlessly scooped me up and stood. My face was close to his—albeit the sideof his, andLord have mercy.

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