Page 106 of Tumbleweed Temptation
The woman looked at him a long moment, the anger in her eyes blurred by tears. She turned her gaze away, not acknowledging his words, not acknowledging him at all.
Con asked the hard questions over the next half hour, who fought tears, who presented arguments.
Finally Austin felt like the rest of the conversation should be between the family only, and he made his escape, never so grateful to get into his car.
Everything in him longed for Ginny, but as much as he wanted to turn to her, he couldn’t use her like that. Even if he wasn’t using her, she might think he was. She had been his crutch when his mom died, and again when Susan lost her baby. He didn’t want her to think he was using her for his own mental health.
He was surprised to see the light on in the office when he got there. Ginny. His heart jumped, only to drop again. He was so drained from that visit, and he didn’t think he could mask it. He couldn’t of course tell her where he’d been, not without Mr. McKay’s permission.
But he couldn’t creep past her into his apartment, not knowing she was there.
So he opened the office door to see her head bent over something at the reception desk. Everything in him wanted to pull her to her feet, pull her into his arms, just hold her, just breathe her in.
“Why are you still here? Did you lose track of time?”
She looked up at him, blinking. “I was doing some work on the next contest. I figured I might as well stay late and do it here, get it out of the way.”
“What needs to be done?” He walked up behind her to look over her shoulder. That might be a good thing to work on, to get his mind off the events of the past couple of hours. She smelled so good, that clean crisp smell that was all Ginny. The smell that was on his pillow upstairs. The smell that made him smile as he fell asleep every night.
He closed his eyes for just a moment, then opened them again to focus on what she was working on.
“Nothing, now. We have the contestants and the ingredients, and the tickets. We’re all set. You’re going to be able to host again? I think everyone really enjoyed that the last contest.”
“Yeah, I mean, I plan to. It’s not really my thing, but this was partly my idea, so I guess I should.”
“Okay, good.” She smiled at him. “You want to get something to eat? Healthy or not?”
His stomach was so twisted with stress that he couldn’t imagine eating. The hope in her eyes made him uneasy, too. They hadn’t really talked since Saturday. And he totally did not have the energy to talk today. He didn’t have any emotional reserve left.
But he’d seen so much pain today, he didn’t want to turn her down, either. “I can sit with you while you eat.”
Her eyebrows dipped. “You’re not hungry? Have you eaten today?”
“I had something at lunch.” He didn’t want to mention it was just a power bar. Even that sat like lead in his stomach.
She pressed her lips together. “Let’s go get something at Hailey’s. I’ll even share my wings with you.”
“I thought she was closed on Mondays.”
“Some of the guys in town got her to open up for Monday night football on the big screen.”
“She has a big screen?”
“She put one up on the stage. And it’s not all that big, but it made the guys happy.”
He tensed. “Matt and his friends?”
She frowned. “Geez. I guess. Never mind. We’ll think of something else.”
“No, it’s okay.” Really? A confrontation with the other man would clear his brain of the current problem occupying it. And maybe if Matt beat him up again, Ginny would nurse him again.
So he was kind of disappointed to see Matt was not present when they walked into the yard at The Wheel House. The tables closest to the stage were taken, though, with crowds of men eager to yell at the television.
He followed Ginny into the bar area to order. He really hoped she intended to hold up the conversation because he didn’t think he could do it. His mind kept replaying the scene at the McKays’, the tears, the despair.
Why hadn’t he been here sooner? Why hadn’t he tested the old man as soon as he got here?
Who else in town was suffering from an illness, and how could he treat everyone as soon as possible?
