Page 55 of Take My Heart
‘Ready?’ Kate asks.
‘Let me run in and get a hat.’ I go in the house, grab a hat and gloves, and return to the garage. I hand Kate some gloves. ‘You’ll need these.’
She puts them on and we leave the garage and trudge through the deep snow that drifted up on the driveway. Kate keeps getting her boots stuck in the snow, which she finds hilarious. She laughs every time it happens.
‘Need some help?’ I stop next to her as she tries to lift her boot up.
‘I can’t believe how much snow there is,’ she says, still laughing. ‘It’s the most snow I’ve ever seen!’
‘Yeah, I’d be making a fortune if my damn plow worked.’
‘It will.’
‘Yeah, on Friday. By then, everyone will have hired someone else.’
She looks up at me and smiles. ‘It’ll be fixed before then.’
‘How? I don’t get the part until Friday.’
She holds onto me and yanks her boot from the snow. ‘Thanks!’ She continues trudging through the snow to the sidewalk.
I meet her there and walk beside her at a slow pace. The snow isn’t as deep on the sidewalk as it was in my driveway, but it’s still hard for Kate to walk in it with my boots.
‘Why do you think the plow will be fixed before Friday?’ I ask.
‘I just have a feeling it will.’
She’s just saying that to make me feel better, which is nice,but I’d rather have it be true. I really need the damn thing to be fixed.
‘So I was thinking,’ she says. ‘I have three weeks off before I have to go back to work. That’s how long Cam and I planned for our honeymoon.’
‘Yeah? So what are you going to do?’
‘I was planning to go to my grandpa’s cabin for a week, but there’s no way I’m going there with all this snow. It’s even worse up north than down here.’
‘So you’re going back to Chicago?’
‘I could, but I don’t want to. I need some time away.’
‘Where do you want to go?’
She stops and turns to me. ‘What would you think about letting me stay?’
‘Stay where?’
‘At your house. I’d pay you rent. How does a thousand sound? Is that too low? How about—’
‘Wait. Why would you want to stay here? I live in a shitty house in a small town and you barely know me.’
‘I know you. We’ve been spending time together since I got here. And I can tell you’re a good guy.’ She laughs a little. ‘You’re messy and completely disorganized and a terrible decorator, but I’m okay with that. It’s actually a nice change after being with Cam, who had to have everything perfect. So what do think?’
‘Um, yeah, I don’t think it’s a good idea.’
‘Why?’
Because she’s hot and there’s definite chemistry between us and if we’re living together things could happen. Actually, scratch the could. They WILL happen. I almost kissed her inthe kitchen last night when she was wearing my shirt. And the way she looked at me when I came out of the bathroom this morning only wearing a towel? I’ve seen that look, and I know what comes next. The only reason nothing happened is because I went in my room.
‘I’m not set up for a roommate,’ I tell her. ‘The house is a mess and I’m supposed to be getting it ready to sell.’
