Page 25 of Townshipped
The four of them make themselves at home, filling plates and warming them in the microwave and then we all sit around the table eating and talking. Between Aiden and me, we fill them in on the details of my story—how I crashed the car and ended up staying here for the time being.
By the time Laura, Lexi, and I are in the kitchen washing the dinner dishes together, I feel like I’ve known them for years. I still face the cavernous ache of my missing memories, but at least for tonight I feel like I’m safe and surrounded by people who I’m pretty sure I’d choose to spend time with no matter what my circumstances.
9
AIDEN
Trevor, Rob, and I move into the living room when the girls shoo us out of the kitchen and insist on doing dinner cleanup without us. They’re obviously trying to get to know Em without me around to run interference.
“This is so like you,” Trevor says once we’re seated around my couches.
“Meaning?”
“You can’t just keep a strange woman out here and play rescue hero one more time.”
I size him up to see if he’s joking. He looks serious.
“Exactly what are you suggesting I do?”
“She could stay with Jayme and Shannon, or Memaw.”
“She’s fine here,” I say with finality.
“Alone on the outskirts of town with a bachelor?” Trevor raises an eyebrow.
“Hazel said not to change things up. Em needs stability so she has the best chance at healing quickly.”
Trevor seems to weigh my words.
“Besides,” I say with a wag of my brows. “When you were pushing me to get out and date, you always said it wasn’t like a woman was just going to wind up on my doorstep. Look who’s eating his words now.”
I’m only playing with him brother to brother. I’m not the kind of man who would take advantage of a woman in Em’s condition. Never. I’ll admit, if I had met her any other way, she’d definitely have caught my interest. Over the past few days she’s shown me a fun side to her, bantering and rolling with this difficult situation in a way I don’t think most people would manage. She’s sensitive, but strong.
If I’m honest with myself, Em’s exactly the type of woman I always imagined myself being with—right down to the red hair. I don’t know why, but I’ve always thought redheads were the most beautiful women. There’s something fiery and exotic about their looks. But, knowing Em even the little I do, I can already tell there’s so much more to her than her outward beauty.
She’s bright and funny and she seems to give as good as she takes. She’s especially been a trooper while our town made a pilgrimage out here today to check her out.
When she talked about being out of my hair soon, I had to fight the urge to tell her how having her here seems to have filled an emptiness I didn’t know existed before she showed up. But that’s way too much for me to think, let alone say out loud to anyone. I’m not about to share the nuances of my thoughts about Em with my brother, especially not when he’s warning me to move her elsewhere.
Of course, she’s not going to stay here long. She’s got a life somewhere—people who are missing her, a job, more than likely.
“You’re deep in thought,” Rob says.
“Yeah,” I say, not offering them anything else. “Em’s doing great, but things were touch and go at first. It’s hard to imagine what she’s going through losing all her memories.”
“I can’t imagine,” Trevor says.
“Which is why she’s not going anywhere until she’s ready,” I tell him.
“Just don’t get attached like you did with Lily,” Trevor warns.
“What does Em have to do with my crazy llama?”
“You should have kicked that rescue animal to the curb within a week of her moving in, but you fell in love—llama love.”
“You’re sick, you know that?” I ask.
“I’m not the one in llama love,” Trevor teases, arching his linked hands under his chin and tilting his head like he’s swooning, and then wiggling his lips and baring all his teeth to imitate a llama’s facial expression. Rob cracks up.
