Chapter 4 #2
She paused the movement of her towel for a moment and smiled. “Good choice. As long as you don’t mind me getting a little messy. I’m not someone who eats dainty when I'm starving and exhausted. Especially when it’s Smokey’s.”
He laughed at her words, tears leakingout of his eyes. “I’d pay good money to see you with barbecue sauce on your face.”
The spark of humor in her eyes was breathtaking. “Careful what you ask for.”
A knock at the outside door turned both of them in that direction.
Kay started to move but he held out his hand to stop her.
“Let me see who’s out there.”
He made quick work of getting to the door and pulled aside the vintage-like antique lace curtains to see who was outside the kitchen door.
A young man in a bright red t-shirt was standing under the safety light holding a large brown paper shopping bag in his hand.
The side of the bag was printed in bright white with the logo of Smokey’s BBQ.
The young man lifted the bag higher. “Delivery!”
Gibson opened the door and held out his hand. “Do you need me to sign anything?”
"Uh, yeah. Thanks." The delivery guy gave him a curious look before he pulled out a couple of receipts from his pocket. “Here, hold this.”
Gibson took the receipts and then the pen when the driver produced it.
It didn’t take long for him to add the tip and sign it.
The delivery guy took a moment to study the name printed on the receipt before putting the receipt and pen back into his pocket, before he handed over the bag.
“Thanks.”
Gibson started to step back to close the door when the driver cleared his throat.
“Uh, is Doctor Kay okay?”
Gibson frowned, his forehead furrowing. “Yeah, she’s okay.”
The driver leaned to the side to look into the house. “Can she come to the door?”
The younger man looked nervous, but he didn’t seem like he was trying to be rude.
“She just… no. I don’t think so.”
“My dad,” he swallowed hard, his Adam’s Apple bobbing, “he said no one ever called in except for her. Could... could I just talk to her? Make sure she’s okay?”
Kay walked into the kitchen with her towel draped around her shoulders. "Hey, Chuck. How is your dad doing?"
The delivery guy colored, his cheeks flushing bright red under his tan. "He's doing real good, Doctor Kay. Real good."
He shuffled from one foot to the other and smiled. The expression took about five years off of the age Gibson had pegged him as.
"Do you think he'd be okay if I come into the restaurant and say hello some day?"
"Really?" The kid smiled and showed a mouthful of straight teeth. "That would be so awesome! I mean," he cleared his throat, "that would be nice. He'd love to see you."
Kay laughed softly. "You taking classes again, Chuck?"
Kay walked past him, and Gibson had to force himself not put a hand on her and hold her back. He didn't know why he didn't want her to go to the door.
Instinct.
That's all he could claim.
The delivery guy shoved his hands in his pockets and his shoulders raised up toward his ears. "Yeah. I started classes at the community college."
"Oh yeah?" Kay stopped in the door frame and while Gibson couldn't see her face, he knew that she was smiling ear to ear. "What are you taking?"
Chuck's chin dropped and he seemed to be studying the ground at his feet.
Kay rocked back on her heels. "It's okay, Chuck, you don't have to tell me what classes you're taking. I'm just happy that you're taking classes and doing something for your future."
"Yeah. My dad said he thought it was a real good idea, Doctor Kay. He thinks I should take business or accounting, but I hate the numbers. I don't even like making change or doing the cash register at work."
"Numbers aren't for everyone."
Kay shivered a little and Gibson moved closer. He put a hand on her back, and she stiffened a little. He moved his hand up and down her back to try and warm her up and he tried not to think too much about that fact that he didn't feel any straps or a bra clasp under her top.
Gibson moved closer and lowered his voice to murmur near her ear. "It's getting cold."
She nodded gently.
"Thanks again for checking on me, Chuck. And send my love to your dad."
Gibson looked up when the delivery guy didn't say anything and saw that the younger man was staring at Kay with open admiration.
"Thanks, Doctor Kay. You, too."
There was something odd with the words he'd said. Just the way he put the words together, but Gibson got the impression that the guy didn't have much of an education.
"Okay, bye now!"
She turned back and Gibson took hold of the door and closed it.
The lock on the back door wasn't all that great other. An older lock just like the rest.
Shaking his head he looked up and caught sight of the delivery guy looking back at him.
With the heavy shadows over the other man's face, he wasn't sure exactly what kind of expression he had, but Gibson knew that he didn't like it.
"You know," he said as he turned away from the door, "you should let me help with your renovations."
She stopped halfway across the room and looked back, smiling. "If you've got the time in your schedule. I'm totally up for hiring you."
A muscle in his jaw tensed and he shook his head. "You don't need to. I'm happy to help."
Kay moved back toward him, stopping just shy of being toe to toe with him. "Gibson, as you probably already know, this house needs some serious help, and I've always told myself I'd get around to finding a contractor to put it all together."
She was close enough for him to smell the scent of her shampoo. And her skin.
The delivery bag was plucked from his hand, and the scent of her hair was replaced with the scent of BBQ sauce as Kay walked away, taking the bag with her.
She stopped in the kitchen doorway. "Are you coming to eat or do I get to eat it all on my own?"
Kay disappeared out of sight and Gibson understood all too well why Chuck had hung around looking for a glimpse of her. He was ready to follow her anywhere, BBQ or not.
"Gibson?"
He shook his head. "I'm coming. I'm coming!"
Her laughter reached inside of him and turned him inside out.
He stopped in the doorway to watch as Kay took out the food from the bag and set it all out on the coffee table.
When she looked up at him, smiling, he felt his heart jump up into his throat.
Her smile was... everything.
Her eyes sparkled.
How? He had no idea. But they sparkled, winking in the light of the old fixture set into the ceiling.
A fixture he knew he'd never agree to change as long as he was around.
"You know," she looked up at him with a question in her eyes as he continued, "I didn't order any drinks. Sorry."
She waved off his apology. "I've got some beers in the fridge and some iced tea. I can get you something when I'm done setting up." She set out the napkins and reached for the covered plates.
"Kay."
She looked up at him and her eyebrows raised in question.
"I can get the drinks. What do you want?"
Her smile almost drove him to his knees. There was just something open about her when she smiled, and it got to him in ways he'd never expected or dreamed of. "Tea, please?"
"You got it."
"Gibson?"
She caught him a moment later and he swung around to look at her.
"Yeah?"
"Ice please?"
He smiled back at her. "Absolutely."
He was a step or two away from the refrigerator when he heard her voice again.
"Cups are in the cabinet above the counter closest to the refrigerator."
Grinning to himself, he called out over his shoulder. "Okay, thanks!" When he opened the cabinet, he found the glasses at eye level. "Just where I have mine at home," he murmured under his breath.
He put some ice in both glasses and set them on the counter. When he opened the refrigerator, he saw the beers that she was talking about and the iced tea pitcher. It was a big one. Likely cold brew.
He made quick work of pouring two glasses and made his way back into the main room of the house to find her sitting on the floor.
Well, not the floor exactly.
"I know it probably looks weird," she explained. "It's just the way I was raised. My parents had me when they were older. And things were mostly the way they were done in Japan. My mom came over to marry my dad. So I just do it when I'm home because-"
"Because you're home."
He put a glass down near her hand and looked up at the couch to see another square cushion like the one she was sitting on. "Can I use one?"
She brightened at that. "Sure! You don't have to sit down on the floor, though."
"I know." He dropped the cushion down along the other side of the coffee table. "But this should be fun."
She laughed under her breath. "Okay. Don't complain if your legs fall asleep."
Later, right around the time he was just getting his second wind, Kay was sound asleep against his shoulder, and he didn't want to move. They were still sitting on the floor with a marathon of Cold Case episodes going on her TV and yes, his legs were asleep.
He laughed until his shoulders were shaking and still, she slept on.