Page 108 of Out on a Limb
“I won’t hold that against you.” My smile held as I looked up into his very serious face. “I like that you try to understand how other people are feeling even though it’s hard.” That made him even better in my book. “Most people don’t try to understand other people’s feelings even when it’s easy.” I could continue on like this for hours, listing the things I liked about him, big and small.
But there was something Andrew needed to know. Something he probably wasn’t already aware of.
And I needed to clear it up.
“But you’re not so easy to read yourself.” I hesitated before putting it all on the line.
But it had to be done.
“Because I have no idea how you feel about me.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Andrew
I’D FUCKED UP again.
Let my own issues get in the way and blind me from what I should be focused on.
“One minute I think you like me,” Collette lifted her shoulders, “and the next you shoot me down.”
“I wasn’t shooting you down.” I raked one hand through my hair as I tried to come up with a way to explain what probably looked to her like I was being indecisive. “I didn’t want you to be the one doing all the work here too.”
“Too?” Her brows came together in what appeared to be genuine confusion.
“You’ve been carrying the garden for the past year, Collette. I didn’t want to make you carry our relationship on top of that.” I watched how hard she worked. How much she gave of herself to everyone around her.
I didn’t expect her to give to me too.
She huffed out a breath as she shook her head. “I haven’t been carrying the garden.”
“Yes, you have. I’ve watched it happen.” I pointed toward the space where we each spent our days. “Who does everyone come to when they have an issue?” I’d seen it happen time and time again. “Who’s the one that’s been keeping us moving even when everyone else stopped showing up?”
Collette blinked. “I was just trying to do what my grandmother would have wanted me to do.” She sniffed. The sadness in her eyes was impossible to miss.
I reached for her, pulling her against my chest like I had yesterday morning when her granddad let her down yet again.
But this time I knew it was the absolute right thing to do.
Collette was on her own in a way I hadn’t realized. She had Julia and her geriatric girl gang, but at the end of the day they all went home.
And she was left to shoulder a responsibility she hadn’t asked for and didn’t deserve.
But took on anyway.
“And you’re doing a hell of a job.” I held her tight. “She would be so fucking proud of you, Pickles.”
Collette’s face tipped up toward mine. “Even if she knew about the chickens?”
I didn’t mean to laugh.
This was a serious discussion.
But I could imagine the look on Ruby Johnson’s face when she found out about the chickens. “I think the chickens would be her favorite part.”
Collette sniffed again, but she seemed a little less sad as she smiled up at me. “Even Phillip?”
“That one she might judge you for.”
