Page 39 of If This is Love

We sat in silence for a couple of beats until I was tingling all over from her feeling like she had to babysit me like this. The whole damn thing had been humiliating enough already.

“Ruth, you really don’t need to stay with me like this. I’m fine.”

She drew in a shaky breath, staring forward and nodding slowly. “Yeah, you seem like you probably are now.” She gave a weighted pause, and her throat worked with a swallow. “But I’m starting to not feel so fine. And I was hoping you might just let me sit with you for a minute.”

My brow pulled low, and I glanced at her. She wasn’t quite crying, but her amber eyes had a sheen on them. It was more like the dignified emotions royalty would use in public.

“Yeah.” I flicked the cig way off to the opposite side of the street and wiped my hand on my jeans. “Yeah, we can sit here for as long as you like, Ruth.”

She gave a single, slow nod. “Thank you, friend.”

And somehow, sitting on a broken curb near a smoldering hellscape was up there with the most peaceful things I’d ever experienced. All because of the woman sitting there next to me. And if I were the kind of man who believed in wishes, I’d wish for the rest of my life to be made up of moments just like this.

Too bad I wasn’t.

11

RUTH

ALGIERS POINT, NEW ORLEANS

It wasn’t adate.

I didn’t know how theDword started floating around in my head, but that’s not what this was. This was just Sunday lunch with my new friends in my new neighborhood, and I was just walking there with one of my neighbors who happened to be a really nice man that I happened to besinfullyattracted to.

Lord help me.

Because it wasn’t a date, I didn’t need to be fussing over my outfit and changing four times. I settled on a dusty rose sweater dress with sleeves to the elbows and a skirt that hit justatmy knees. Not that I needed to worry about the length of my skirt anymore. Heck, I’d bet that I’d be the only lady showing up to this Sunday lunch in a Sunday dress because that didn’t seem to be much of a thing outside of my old church either.

I finished getting dressed, then put on a little makeup and fluffed my hair before grabbing a pair of neutral flats and slipping them on. In the kitchen, I pulled a casserole dish of maque choux from the oven where it was warming, and I was just getting the foil rolled on when someone knocked on my door.

Someone, meaning Gabe. My very nice neighbor whom I was very attracted to.

I stepped out of the kitchen and through the living room and opened the door.

Gabe was staring at his feet and lifted his head to meet my eyes after a second, and an easy half-smile tipped up one side of his mouth. He was wearing a black jacket with the collar flipped up and a green polo-style shirt that made his pewter eyes look silver, and itwasn’ta date.

It wasn’t a date. I didn’t know why that word kept buzzing around in my head.

“Hi there, neighbor,” I said with my biggest smile, stepping to one side to let him and Gunner in and then hastily making a break for the kitchen so I didn’t do anythingdate-ish. “Give me just a second while I grab this dish.”

In the kitchen, I pressed my hand on the side of the dish to check the temperature. It was still a bit too hot to carry, so I turned to grab the oven mitts, and Gabe was right there.

“Oh.” I clutched the center of my chest and laughed quietly. “You’re so stealth.”

A wider smile broke across his face for a second as he stepped around me toward the dish. “Just sneaky, I guess. I’ll carry this for you.”

“Oh, okay, but it’s kind of hot…” I started to say as he picked it up like it was any other room-temperature item.

He turned to me, holding the dish at the level of his chest, and sniffed the air. “Is it maque choux?”

I smiled. “You’ve got a good sniffer.”

“Smells great. Nobody ever makes maque choux on Sundays.” He sniffed the air again, his eyes squinting with exuberance. “It smells fantastic.” He sniffed a third time, squinting even harder. “Did you put brown sugar in it?”

“Oooohh…” I couldn’t hold back a giggle. “Listen to this man in my kitchen asking for all my secrets.” I was so giddy all of a sudden and leaned toward his face, beckoning him with my finger, and he played along, inclining his ear toward me. “I used maple bacon,” I whispered, then pressed my finger to my mouth. “Shhh…”

His smile widened, and it even pulled a dimple deep into the dark, dense scruff of one of his cheeks. He turned to me, and our faces were so close that this not onlystillfelt like a date, but it also felt like theendof a date when akisswas about to happen, and oh my good lord.

---