Page 12 of Infinite as They Come
Spencer’s head shook as he slid off the bench. “I’ll be okay.” He held the card with two hands, staring up at me with those big eyes. “Thank you for the drawing.”
“Yeah, no problem,” I said with a little shrug.
He gave us a tiny, unsure looking smile before beginning his journey down the pathway that led to the back part of the park. I watched him until he made his way through an old beat up fence with his head down, until he became nothing but a spec that disappeared when he moved around the corner. That must have been where he lived.
Holly pressed a hand to her chest. “How sad,” she said. “Kids are awful.”
My brows raised as I took a seat back next to her. “Yeah, I know.”
“It was very sweet of you to help him.” She pressed a kiss to my cheek. “So brave. You’re my hero.”
“They were, like, ten years old. Is this my life now? Fighting ten yearolds?”
“Someone’s gotta do it. I hope you don’t mind that I gave him that card. I thought it’d cheer him up.”
“Nah, it’s okay. I’ll make you another. You wanna get outta here?” I said as I took a glance at her watch. I’d have to go check out the house and I didn’t want to be late. “I’ll drop you off at the motel and you can relax.” Standing up, I reached a hand out for her, her fingers lacing with mine as I helped her up. “Don’t want you to get bored.”
“I’m never bored with you, but okay. I’ll hang out at the motel.”
Fingers locked, we left the park and those ducks behind us, my mind replaying all those words she said earlier. How much she liked the place, how it was all quiet and peaceful. She seemed so relaxed and at ease.Happy too. I loved seeing her happy so damn much.
It could be a home. Our home. The place we spent the rest of our lives.
I’d give her that. I would.
Chapter 4
Sawyer
The internet could not be fucking trusted. The house looked good enough online. Small, a little run down but nothing I couldn’t fix, and just the right size for me and Holly. That house looked like heaven, really. The one standing in front of me was so far from the photos I had wondered if I had straight up gone to the wrong address. But nope. This was the place. This was the home. This was a complete fucking disaster and the opposite of everything I wanted to give my girl.
The porch had half the floorboards missing and the railing was gone and the chimney looked borderline destroyed with almost all of the bricks gone, and the ones that remained looked damaged beyond repair. When I moved around the back, all I saw was brittle land. Withered and ruined, too dry for any life to grow. No flowers, no grass.No lemon tree. And Holly really loved that damn lemon tree…
It had taken me over an hour to drive out to Leesville. The further I went, the louder it got. It was supposed to be quiet and peaceful—the words Holly had used earlier. But the dirt road at the front had about a million trucks zooming up and down it. You could hear them from the backyard.
I was pulled from my thoughts when my phone went off in my hand. Sticking my hand into my pocket, I yanked it out without looking at the number.
“Hello?” I answered, and in a second flat, they hung up. My eyes rolled and I shoved my phone back into my pocket, rubbing my hands overmy face as I stood there in the piercing sun. Part of me had been hoping I’d find the home with ease, that there wouldn’t be too much hunting, too much stress.
I groaned. My life for the last three years had consisted of saving, saving, and more saving. Holly could buy that perfect house like it was nothing. She could buy one in every city in every state and have more than enough cash left over, but I had to be smart with my money. Every shift at work had been for her. The aches, the tiredness, the strain. Every bit of pain was worth it if it meant I got to give her the home we’d spend the rest of our lives in. I’d find it. And it’d be perfect too. I wouldn’t let her dream home be some okay version. No. I would cross every T, dot every I, and give her one that she’d love.
“It’s what we call a fixer upper!”
I turned to see Mandy—the very loud, very blonde, very excited realtor I had talked to online. She clasped her clipboard to her chest, her smile all big as she tried to soften the blow.
“I’m sorry the house doesn’t look like the photos,” she said. “I know this—” A truck’s loud, obnoxious horn went off in the background, cutting her off before she exhaled sharply. “I’ll find something for you and your wife. I promise I will.”
“She’s my girlfriend,” I said, butyour wifesounded really good, like it made complete and utter sense and rolled right off the tongue, and I suddenly wanted to hear more people call Holly my wife. “And thanks.”
I said goodbye to Mandy and made the hour drive back to the motel, picking up that chicken for me and Holly to eat for dinner along the way. Hopefully she hadn’t gotten too bored waiting around for me. That thought just made me want to get back to the motel faster, and when I did and pushed open the door, the first thing I heard was the sound of the shower in the background.
“Is that you?” Holly called out.
“Nah, it’s someone else,” I said, kicking my shoes off and taking a seat in the chair by the window.
“Scary!” she said.
A low laugh left my lips as I put the bag of food on the little table, and I realized then that I instantly felt all that stress of the afternoon wash away. Most of it, anyway. Holly had a way of calming me down. Of making me feel grounded and centered, and some days, all it took was that sweet, soft voice of hers. That need to find that home for her and us was still sitting there heavy at the back of my mind. It wouldn’t go away until I had those keys in my hands and I was standing with Holly inside that building, but now that I was back with her, hearing her voice, that scent of her perfume lingering in the room, I could relax. For tonight, with my girl, I could feel at ease.
