Page 14 of Anything for You
Liz nodded. “He is fairly resistant to conversation, so far as I’ve found.”
Catherine likely had the least interaction with him, both because she wasn’t partnered off with a Saint man, and because as her business had gotten busier and expanded over the last year, she’d been less available for social functions—not that Stone showed at many of those.
“He’s been great. I mean, we obviously got off on an odd foot,” I said, laughing self-deprecatingly. They joined me, all of us remembering my dramatic retelling of the event via text the very night I’d moved in, after I’d nabbed a few hours of sleep. “It’s mostly that I hadn’t seen much of him, and then the other day, I was…”
I swallowed down the truth. They were all in the throes of wedding planning and imminent baby-birthing bliss, and I didn’t want anyone worrying about me. They didn’t need to.
I waved a hand in the air like whatever I was going to say didn’t matter. “It was a weird day, and he was really kind.”
Jess blinked. Jo smiled. Winnie full-out grinned, and everyone else leaned in, waiting for more.
“It was unexpected, but I think I’m realizing he’s just a really sweet guy.” It sounded so… facile. But I didn’t think I’d ever interacted with anyone quite like him.
“Aw, he really is. He’s been through so much. I love that he’s starting to show up to stuff more, too.” Jo’s happiness beamed out of her, so genuine.
He’d been through a lot? I mean, duh, of course he had. He’d sat with me like he was no stranger to grief, to tears, to the desolation I’d been feeling right then. And he hadn’t looked at me with pity. He’d looked at me like he knew me—that part of me, at least.
So of course he’d been through something. But why was my heart twisting in my chest, trying to wriggle free fromhaving to face that? The man who brought me that darling little peach pie shouldn’t have had to go through anything awful, ever.
“He’s a lot like the hero in Josie Wade’s fourth book,” Catherine offered.
Liz snapped and pointed at her. “Yes. Totally. I see that.”
Jo squinted. “Hmm. I can see that. I mean, I do.”
From there, the conversation shifted back to our latest club selection, and soon, the dream of sitting and chatting about books with my closest friends for the evening had come to an end. We helped clean up, but eventually, Jo and Liz shooed the rest of us away, and Elise and I made up the caboose of the exiting train.
“So what really happened?” she asked, voice low enough Catherine, Nikki, and Winnie wouldn’t hear. Jude had already picked Jess up at the curb minutes ago, the doll. He doted on Jess to the point he drove her a little crazy, but she deserved someone completely wrapped up in her.
“I had a bit of a spiral.” She looked at me, waiting for more, and after avoiding it all evening, I let her in. “I’ve been lonely lately. And even though I really like the cabin, I’m kind of out there on my own. Other than occasionally seeing him and waving, I haven’t interacted with Dorian much at all. We don’t talk. And you know I tend to be a talker. And I’ve been so tired. Plus seeing Nan is stupidly bittersweet,” I admitted, wiping at a tear sneaking from my eye without permission.
“I’m sorry,” Elise said, and held out her arms. I walked into them, desperate for the contact and comfort. “It’s a lot right now. You’re handling it so well.”
She squeezed me tight, then released, and I pressed my face into the sleeve of my dress in a futile attempt to stay thetears. Sometimes, I wished I could be harder, less prone to tears. But this was just me, a little watering pot.
“What can I do?” she asked, sincerity in every word.
I sniffled and then laughed. “I don’t think there is anything. I’ve felt a little better since I had my total emotional breakdown in a stranger’s arms,” I said, another chagrined laugh slipping out.
“In a stranger’s arms?!Okay, I think I need more information on that part of the event, please and thank you.”
I toed the pavement with my platform sandal. “So, yeah. He came home and I was already a wreck sitting on my steps, and he just came and sat by me, and then I literally ended up crying on his shoulder.” A buzz of warmth grew in my palms when I remembered. “He held my hand.”
Elise blinked back at me, processing. “Luc loves him. I know he’s a good man. I just… I don’t even know what to say.”
I shrugged a shoulder. “I don’t either. It was absolutely disarming, and since then, we’ve not spoken. Then today, I came home to a tiny, perfect peach pie on my doorstep that had to be from him because there’s no one else around. And Elise, when I say this pie was perfect…” I shook my head like I couldn’t find words because I couldn’t.
“Whoa. Dangerous man.”
I nodded, feeling that deeply. He’d come out of nowhere with his gentleness and rampant displays of decency and then polished it off with pie. What the heck was I supposed to do with all that?
“Do you like him? Is that what this is, or…?”
Did he make me all fluttery and empty-headed half the time? Yes. Did he weirdly make me feel safe? Yes. Did he support me like we’d been friends for years, not neighbors for months?
I didn’t say any of that, though. “Great question. I don’t know him enough to say. But I like what I’ve seen. I’d like to see more. I think I’d like to be his friend. He’s already been a good friend to me.”
Not that my friends here weren’t checking in and keeping our group chat thread going day in and day out. And Elise knew the depths of things with Nan and our sale of the house, but they all understood this was a huge change and I’d had to work more to make ends meet the Silverton Springs bill.
