5. Spencer
5
SPENCER
“Is she asleep?” Raphael asked as he stood at the counter, chopping vegetables.
His question made me grin. It was the kind of thing we’d asked each other thousands of times when the twins were young.
“I think so.” The kids were watching TV very quietly in the front room. I’d made them keep the volume off. Charlotte only needed the closed captions anyway, and it wouldn’t hurt for Lucas to read them, too. “I doubt she’ll be up for dinner. She looked exhausted.”
My brother-in-law nodded. “Those pain meds are pretty powerful. Guess it’s not much of a surprise, since her leg’s so messed up.”
I winced. It was impossible to forget that had she not acted so quickly, it would be Lucas who was that badly injured—or worse.
“Let’s grill tonight,” I said suddenly.
“I’ve already got the sausages in the skillet,” Raphael protested. He usually cooked dinner. I stuck with breakfast, packing the twins’ lunches, and occasionally grilling out on the deck.
“Fish them out and I’ll toss them on the grill.”
Rafe ignored me, and I didn’t blame him. He had dinner under control and didn’t need me butting in. Plus, the kids loved the way he prepared andouille sausage.
I just had this strong urge to keep busy. Of course, having missed work for the past day and a half, there was lots to do, but that wasn’t what I wanted right now. I needed to do something to keep me from thinking about how things might’ve turned out in the park on Monday. “If I can’t grill, then give me something else to do.”
“Chop this cauliflower, and I’ll start the salad.”
“All right.”
We worked in companionable silence, just like we had for the last eight years. After Corinne passed, I would’ve been lost without Rafe. Correction, I was lost, but he kept our family on track, even though he was grieving as much as I was. I owed him so much, and now I owed Alyssa as well.
“Is Flynn coming to dinner?” Raphael asked. I shrugged. My brother joined us most nights, but he hadn’t yesterday. “Are you still avoiding him?”
“I’m not avoiding him; he’s avoiding me.”
“From where I’m standing, it looks like the same thing.”
I said nothing, but my knife made a loud sound as I slammed it down on the cutting board.
“I need that cauliflower chopped, not eradicated.”
I nodded to show I understood, not necessarily to confirm that I was going to hold back. I didn’t blame my younger brother for what happened in the park—not exactly.
But even if I lived to be a hundred, I’d never forget the phone call from him two days ago. The phone call in which he told me that my son was okay, but that he nearly hadn’t been. He'd nearly been?—
I cut off that thought as swiftly as my knife sliced through the vegetables. “What do you think of her?”
“Initial impression? Smart, pretty, and kind. But I don’t think it’s hit her yet.” He paused, wincing at his choice of words.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, she moved down here to start a new career, and she only got, what, one day of it? Everything she thought would happen in this new stage of her life has now been put on hold.”
“It’s just a job,” I said uneasily.
“Yeah, but she’s fresh out of college. It’s likely her first job in her field. It’s a big deal,” Raphael insisted.
“So what do we do about that?”
“Only thing we can do is help her as much as possible. And that doesn’t just mean carrying her around like a prize-winning lamb at the state fair.” Raphael turned away from the stove to level a look at me. “That means being there for her when she’s hurting, disappointed, or frustrated, too.”
I hadn’t really thought ahead to that part. Mostly, my thoughts were full of gratitude. This woman had stepped in front of a car to save my son. Who did that?
I didn’t truly know Alyssa yet. She’d been too tired to talk much, and the pain and the meds were likely having a big effect on her. But she’d saved Lucas’s life, and I found myself projecting my feelings about that onto her.
Therefore, it wouldn’t surprise me if she said she’d founded an orphanage somewhere, or a no-kill animal shelter. Or that she spent her days robbing from the rich to give to the poor. Lyss was an amazing woman, and a hero in my eyes.
But admiration and gratitude weren’t the only things I felt for her. That was another reason I was trying to keep busy and not think too much. My knife slammed down on the cutting board again, narrowly missing my finger. “Shit.”
Raphael silently took the cutting board from me. “Why don’t you set the table? And try not to break too many plates.”
I moved to the cabinet, but the intrusive thoughts wouldn’t stop. Holding Lyss in my arms felt … right , somehow. Yet that made no sense. The only people I’d carried like that were my kids, and my wife when she was sick.
Being that close to Alyssa brought out my protective side, and something more as well. I hadn’t dated or been with a woman since Corinne died, but I worked at an elementary school. Most of my colleagues were young, single women, not much older than Alyssa.
If I fell for every pretty face I met, I’d have been fired long ago. But for the past eight years, none of them had caught my eye. I liked and admired the teachers, but that was all. No other feelings.
Then Lyss showed up, and I couldn't stop thinking about her.
Was it just because she saved Lucas? Or just because right now, she needed my help and protection?
Or was it that silky, shoulder-length blonde hair that just brushed the tops of her shoulders? Or those blue eyes that reminded me of the sky on a perfect day? Then there was the memory of holding her in my arms. She was light, but there was no doubt she was definitely a grown woman.
Which was exactly the kind of thing I shouldn’t be thinking about.
The stack of plates rattled as I dropped them on the table. A crack appeared in the top one.
Crap.
I was a single dad. I held a very demanding job. And now I had a woman living here that I owed the world to. My goal was to do everything I could to help her recover—but I needed to treat her like part of my job. In a professional, impersonal manner.
Any other feelings would threaten to disrupt the life I’d carefully built with my children, Raphael, and Flynn.