Page 59 of Colton in the Wild
“The opposite. She said I’m healing well, and that if I’m careful, I can do anything I feel up to, short of climbing Denali.”
“Well, darn,” Spence said, grinning with obvious relief now, “there go my plans for us for the weekend.”
She took a deep breath. She wasn’t sure why this was so difficult. The man had been taking care of her for three weeks straight, and once how he felt about her was out in the open, he’d apparently had no qualms about admitting it. And she’d confronted her feelings for him while she was still lying in that hospital, watching him sleep restlessly in the chair beside her bed.
“I was hoping we could make other plans for the weekend,” she managed to get out, feeling heat rising up to her cheeks.
“Sure,” he said cheerfully. “Where do you want to go?”
She needed another deep breath. Wondered if she was jumping the gun, if it was too soon, if she had misinterpreted—
“Hetty?”
She met his gaze, stared into those eyes she knew so well. “I’ve never been to your place.”
“I know, you never wanted to—” He broke off and she saw his eyes widen. He swallowed visibly. “Hetty?”
“You’ve been in and out of my place picking things up for me for three weeks now. Don’t you think it’s time I saw yours?”
“I…sure.”
He looked a little nervous and she wondered if it was because he was a guy nervous about what mess he might have left behind, or if he’d read her intent. Her intent that the tour would end in his bedroom. She’d waited long enough, and the doctor had indeed said, if she was careful, it would be all right.
“Just let him do all the work,” she’d said in a teasing tone that made Hetty like her even more. She’d even dug into a supply drawer and come up with a box of condoms, which she’d tossed to Hetty with a grin. That box was now tucked away in her purse, which was locked in his SUV back at RTA where they’d picked up their ride.
* * *
Spence’s home was nothing like she’d imagined. The cabin-like two-bedroom place not far from the RTA office had large windows facing downhill toward the sound. To the rear, it was tucked into a stand of trees, and knowing Spence’s penchant for being outside whenever possible, she’d bet there was a deck out there.
The inside was…cozy. Warm. Welcoming. She thought she recognized Abby Colton’s fine hand in the décor, but the color scheme was pure Spence: evergreen, blue, and the gray of a young Sitka spruce. Like the one masking the cave.
And it was tidy. Tidier than her own place sometimes got. Sure, there were some boots by the door, but that was typical of just about anyone up here. There was a jacket tossed over the back of a chair, and an empty coffee mug on the counter between the kitchen and the living room, but other than that, if there was a mess, it was hidden.
In the bedroom?
She wondered when Spence Colton’s bedroom had become the focus of her existence. That night in the cave? Or when he’d kissed her in his parents’ house? Or when Dr. Masters had given her the okay to…what? Jump him? No, she was supposed to let him do all the work.
Her pulse kicked up at the images that brought to mind. Trying to slow herself down, she looked around the living room. Her gaze stopped dead at the unexpected item on the wall above the couch. A large, framed photograph of, of all things, a big city. She scanned for any landmarks she’d recognize that would tell her what megametropolis it was, but found nothing.
Finally, she looked at Spence. “Well, that was the last thing I would have expected to see on your wall.”
He started to respond but stopped. Then the words finally came. “You want to know why?”
She went very still inside, sensing there was much more to this than the surface question. “I want to know everything,” she said quietly.
She saw him swallow, as if her words had reached him beyond their mere definition. It was a moment before he said, “It’s all about the sequence.”
She blinked, not understanding. Instead of explaining in more words, he walked toward the couch. She made herself look at more than just the way he moved, and saw he was looking at the picture. When he reached the couch, he turned around and sat down. And was, she realized, facing the large windows with the spectacular view down to the sound, with the mountains on the other side sharp and clear on this cloudless day. If anything, an image of that panorama was what she would have expected to see on his wall.
It’s all about the sequence.
It hit her then. He’d walked over facing the city and then…turned his back on it. Turned to face the reality outside. His reality, the place and the life he loved.
“It’s there to remind you how glad you are to live here,” she said.
“And not there,” he said. “I knew you’d get it. Because you get me.”
“More now,” she admitted.
