Page 15 of Breathless
“Is there something you’re not telling me?”
He let go of her swing and she stood up, not liking his sudden moodiness or the way he hadn’t answered her question.
“What do you think we should do for dinner?” she asked.
“I don’t know. You’re cooking tonight. What do you want to fix?” he asked.
She stopped walking and turned to look at him. “What? You know I can’t cook.”
“And it’s time you learned.” He smiled at her. “You saw what I bought today. Several of the items were easy fix meals. We’ll start with one of those for your first lesson.”
“Okay.” That didn’t sound too difficult. No more than a microwave dinner for one. Surely, she could manage that on her own.
On the way back, he offered her his hand, which surprised her, and she took it. She immediately liked the way it felt to have her hand pressed against his. So intimate. It made her tingle allover. And she snuck a glance at him. But his brows were knitted together, and he was staring off into space, clearly a sign that he was deep in thought, and he was only holding her hand to keep her close and safe.
Her heart sank, but she knew it was early days yet. They’d only met yesterday. What was she expecting?
When they got back to her place, she unlocked the door and headed to the kitchen to see which meal to prepare. There were several in the freezer and she picked one that had pasta, meat, sauce, and vegetables for a balanced meal. One fry skillet on medium heat. A pair of scissors to cut the bag and twelve minutes later, they were sitting down to dinner.
“Did I really just cook?” Chaney asked, after dishing up the two plates and carrying them over to the table.
“You did.” Rawlins brought over the drinks, and they sat down to dinner.
“Man. That wasn’t bad. If I had known it would be that easy, I wouldn’t have been eating those sandwiches for weeks,” Chaney said.
“Blame your parents,” Rawlins said.
“I do.” Chaney picked up her fork and tested a bite. She closed her eyes, savoring the goodness that tantalized her tongue, before taking another bite. “It might not be five-star, but it’s still really good.”
“Yes,” Rawlins agreed. “And if you wanted to add a salad with it you could do that, or dinner rolls to round it out.”
“Exactly.” Chaney nodded as she made a mental note to consider these options when she cooked one of these bag meals again.
They finished eating and took their dishes back into the kitchen. She rinsed them and placed them in the dishwasher before washing and drying the skillet.
“You want to finish our game of scrabble?” Rawlins asked.
“Sure,” Chaney said, tucking the skillet away when her cellphone rang. She looked at the caller id and froze. It was Justus. For a second, she debated whether to answer or not. Then her anger at Justus won because she realized she really wanted to tell her friend just how upset she’d made her.
“Hello?”
“I’m sorry,” Justus said. “I only said what I did because I wanted you to be safe by distancing yourself from us. Can you forgive me?”
“Jerk.”
“You’re right. I was.”
“You hurt me.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I was having trouble dealing with my parents not wanting me to see you, and then you go and do that. I should hate you for it,” Chaney said.
“I know. You have every right to feel that way,” Justus replied. “But I thought I was doing what was in your best interest: keeping you safe if you weren’t with us.”
“Rawlins is here to keep me safe. You have Rafferty. I think we’ll be fine.”
“Will we?” Justus asked. “Our rental was broken into and trashed today. Liberty is now in Fool’s Gold, and I’m staying with Rafferty. Has anything happened to you?”
