Chapter 39
Walker
Claire doesn”t exactly look like an angry raging bull as she climbs out of the car. I stay seated on the front porch, wondering if Corbin”s grandma will be mad when she realizes I borrowed her rocking chair. Probably not. That woman loves me. Most older people do, with the exception of Nora Kennedy, of course.
She pulls Larkin from the car seat and the little girl runs in my direction while Claire works on getting the rest of her things from the car.
”Walkey!” she says, running in my direction.
Her smile is wide, her cheeks pink as her blonde curls fly in the breeze.
”Saw Ganny and PopPop!”
”Did you?” I ask, looking up at Claire as she approaches.
I stand when Larkin grabs my hand and grunts as she tries to pull me out of the chair.
”Come in,” the little girl says. ”It”s cold.”
As if to prove it, she shivers.
”Car warm now.”
”I know it is,” I tell her, once again looking at her mother when she remains silent.
Claire smiles down at Larkin before plugging her house key into the lock. She steps aside as Larkin tugs me into the house, but I know better than to think that her silence and not demanding that I leave is her being glad that I”m here. She does her best not to get upset in front of Larkin, and this could easily be one of those times.
”Lights!” Larkin demands as she works on pulling some wild-haired dolls from a bin in the television stand.
”Bossy,” Claire says as she steps inside, and closes the door.
”Lights, pwease?”
”Better,” Claire says as she walks closer to the tree.
I should be a better man and not stare at her ass when she crouches low and reaches far behind the tree to plug in the lights.
”There”s a clicker thing,” I tell her once the tree is lit.
I swear the way she glances over her shoulder while on all fours makes me think some seriously dirty thoughts. Things I should be arrested for in mixed company.
”There,” I tell her once she stands. ”Leave the tree plugged in and click it off and on with your foot.”
She tests it out, gaining a groan from Larkin every time the tree goes dark.
”I worry about a fire,” she says.
”You”ve been plugging in and unplugging a very good surge protector,” I explain. ”It”ll be fine. Promise.”
Instead of stepping further into her space, I take a step back, looking down at Larkin who is content to brush the dolls” hair and look at the lights. I doubt all kids are as calm as she is though.
The best kind of fire shoots up my arm when Clarie wraps her hand around two of my fingers and pulls me to where we”re standing more behind Larkin than in between her and the tree.
I smile down at her, unsure of how to react. She could easily be pulling me away so she can tell me to leave and never come back, but instead, she continues to tug me toward the tiny kitchen. Lifting up on the tips of her toes, she brushes a soft kiss on my lips before taking a step back.
She releases my hand as she opens cabinets, pulling things out and placing them on the counter.
She sighs when she opens the fridge.
“I forgot the milk,” she whispers.
“I can go get some,” I offer, wanting to help her in any way that I can.
“You don’t have to do that,” she says as she shifts to another cabinet.
“I don’t mind.”
“I’ll use this,” she says, holding up a clear container with what looks like flour in it.
”It”s my emergency stash of dry milk.”
”Dry milk?” I ask, my throat refusing to swallow down the gag forming.
”Don”t look so disgusted,” she says, smiling at me.
I swear it makes everything in my life better.
”Larkin won”t drink it, but you can”t even tell when it”s cooked into something.”
”What are you making with it?”
I can”t think of a single thing that would be good with a powdered form of milk in it.
”Mac and cheese,” she says, pointing to the box on the counter as if I”m blind.
It”s not that I”m blind, it”s that I have a hard time seeing anything else when she”s near.
God, that sounded corny even in my head, but since I know it to be true, I simply stand a little taller.
”I want to thank you again for getting my car fixed.”
”I didn”t fix your car, Boone did.”
”And it only cost fifty bucks?”
”Give or take,” I tell her with a quick shrug.
She pulls in a sigh, releasing it slowly, but it doesn”t have the edge of annoyance that”s usually present when she gets frustrated with me or someone else.
”Barrett called me today and insisted I come by the office.”
”Did he?” I say, wondering if she can hear the agitation in my voice.
I”ll ring that jerk”s neck if he told her about the trust he”s supposed to be setting up.
”Seems you went and spoke to him about my credit card debt.”
My heart stops, missing a handful of beats before it restarts, feeling a little clunky and not working right.
”Listen, what I told—”
”I want to say thank you.”
I tilt my head a little to the side. Surely I didn”t just hear what I think I heard.
”That look on your face, the shock that I”d thank you for something, kind of makes me feel like I”ve done nothing but be a jerk to you.”
”There are times you”re nice,” I whisper, my eyes dropping to her lips.
I smile when she does.
”Are there?” she asks, her voice a sultry whisper. Or maybe I”m just imagining it. Either way, I like where this is going.
”As I was saying,” she says, switching gears like only a woman can. ”I went to speak with Barrett and he somehow managed to make the credit card company clear all my debt.”
”He did what?” I wouldn”t be surprised if this is how Barrett decided to ease her burden on my behalf, but I”ll have to make arrangements for that amount of cash.
She blinks in my direction. ”Why do you look like that?”
”Like what?” I ask, my heart racing. I saw the balance on that damned card, and I might be able to come up with the total, but that”s going to take moving some stuff around.
”Like you”ve seen a ghost. You”re pale.”
”I”m fine. It”s a little warm in here,” I say, reaching for the bottom of my sweatshirt and pulling it over my head.
Despite the fact that I probably now own every penny of her debt, I can”t concern myself with it when I notice her checking me out after I pull the sweatshirt over my head.
”You”re looking a little warm yourself,” I tell her.
”I”m fine,” she says, but her voice tells me differently.
The sexual attraction between us has never been an issue, and as much as I love that aspect of what we”ve done, I want so much more from her. I can only hope that eventually she”ll be able to see herself with me and not just for some after-dark fun times.
She turns back to work on cooking, and since I know how easily I”ll get distracted staring at her ass, I speak again.
”You were saying about Barrett?” I prompt as I toss my sweatshirt into the chair at the small kitchen table that doesn”t have the little booster seat in it, making a mental note to get one for my house so I”m prepared if she ever brings Larkin over there.
”I no longer have to make payments. He said that he threatened to take them to court for making a widow pay back debt that was created before I was even put on the account. He doesn”t know that he”ll be able to get back all the money I”ve paid in over the years, but, honestly, I”m just ecstatic that I don”t have to choose between gas for the car and paying what I can on the card.”
”That”s great news,” I say.
It”s also a very plausible story. Barrett went above and beyond thinking that one up. I”ll have to get with him to get all the details.
”I may have to send him a bottle of whiskey to say thank you,” she says as she crouches to read the measurement of water as she fills her measuring cup.
”He doesn”t deserve anything with how he acted at the wedding,” I remind her.
She turned to look at me, her lips forming a sad smile. ”It”s obvious the man is trying to work through something, but he changed my life today.”
”He likes Johnny Walker,” I tell her because I”m not going to stand here and argue that although the lie sounds great, it wasn”t Barrett who changed her life. At this point, so long as she”s happy, she never has to know that I”m the one who is actually paying off her debt.
”Not having those payments has given me a lot of flexibility. It means I don”t have to cave and take Larkin back to the Kennedys for Nora to watch her through the week. I went over there today to speak with them about it.”
”How did that go? Are you sure I can”t help you with anything?”
”It”s mac and cheese and chicken nuggets, Walker, not a gourmet meal. I”m fine. It went okay, I guess. I have some concerns. I think Leo is really sick, but I didn”t feel like it was my place to ask him about it. I laid down the law and told them that I”d be keeping Larkin with Madison because she needs the socialization. She”ll be a gremlin when she starts school if she stays isolated.”
”She”s a precious angel and would never act like that,” I assure her.
I chuckle when she glares at me. ”You haven”t seen her upset, or hungry, or tired, or a plethora of many different emotions. She’s a great kid, but she”s just as prone to an attitude problem as I am.”
I bite my lip to keep from smiling too wide.
”I have to make my own confession,” I tell her. ”I had a conversation with them this morning.”
”I know,” she says, her back once again to me as she stirs the mac and cheese in a small pot on the stove.
”They came up to me at the diner. It”s not like I went looking for them.”
”I didn”t think you did.”
”I didn”t go knock on their door and give them the riot act,” I continue, needing her to know I didn”t go out of my way to talk about her behind her back, although she knows I did that with Barrett.
”Walker, I know,” she says, glancing over her shoulder.
”What else did you talk about at Nora and Leo”s?”
I swear I will go over there and have a word with that hateful woman if she was able to convince Claire to stop seeing me.
”Not much else. I told them I”d be happy to bring Larkin by to visit when they wanted to see her. I”m dropping her off on Saturday, and then they invited me to Christmas dinner. Did I tell you that Nora invited me into the house for the first time in literally years?”
”I thought it was weird she met you on the front porch the other day,” I mutter.
”She”s never been impressed with me.”
”She didn”t try to convince you to stop dating me?”
She spins around to face me. ”You”re still stuck on this idea that we”re dating.”
”Together,” I clarify. ”We”re together, Claire. As in you”re mine and I”m yours.”
I can”t tell if I hate or love the way her nose scrunches up as she looks at me.
”What if I don”t want to be yours?”
All I can do is shrug. ”Too damn bad.”
”You know that”s like a form of harassment.”
It only takes two steps in her tiny kitchen until I”m standing right in front of her. When I lower my head, she lifts up to meet my mouth, and that”s what I call progress. The kiss isn”t passionate or filled with desire. It”s simple and perfect and more of a promise. I take a step back, knowing there”s nothing I can do to further my mouth on hers with Larkin playing in the other room.
”You know,” I say, looking over her shoulder at the pan of mac and cheese. ”I heard about all the snacks single mothers have when you get up the next day.”
”First off, you”re not staying the night. Secondly, single mothers? I thought we were together. Are you saying now I”m single?”
She squeals in delight when I grab her by the waist and pull her against me.
”If I have my way about it, you”ll never be single again.”
I feel like a man who has struck gold with her laughter in my ears, her warmth against my body, and my arms around her.
”Did you know I have a three-bedroom house?”
”I didn”t,” she says as she pulls back to stir the mac and cheese.
”That means a room for us, one for Larkin, and then another for a nursery.”
”Pump the brakes,” she says, but there”s a hint of laughter in her tone telling me she isn”t completely opposed to the idea. “It”s a little too early to talk about moving in together, and it”s much too early to talk about having a child together.”
”I”m in my thirties,” I argue. ”I don”t want to have to get a day pass from the nursing home to watch my kids graduate.”
”Don”t be silly,” she says without missing a beat. ”I”m sure graduation will be streamed live. You can watch it from your room.”