11. Too Much Of A Leap
TOO MUCH OF A LEAP
Somehow Luca was on the ferry Friday morning and going to Boston for the day with Gabriela.
It wasn’t as if he had anything else to do. He wanted to return to the mainland to get a few things, and she’d offered.
Actually, she’d said she needed to get a few things from her apartment and asked if he wanted to join her.
Maybe it felt awesome being thought of as a good catch. He always thought he was, in his twenties.
Then he’d been caught and thought he had it all.
All but the family he always wanted.
And if he’d had that, he would have lost it that day. He had to remind himself that not everything was meant to be.
Or meant at the time he wanted it.
“How much stuff do you have to get at your place?” he asked when they were sitting inside the ferry. They could have stayed in her car, but she said she felt claustrophobic half the time doing that.
“Clothes,” she said. “I’ve got some summer stuff I’m returning. I need more winter-type things. I don’t have as much space in my closet at the house on the island. And it’s only temporary anyway.”
“You don’t plan on staying there? Working on the island?”
“I don’t know what the future is going to hold, but I’ve got my place in Boston and it’s not costing me anything to live on the island. Just time to switch things around like this. In a year, if I’m still content, I’ll think about changing my living situation permanently.”
He doubted it was a cost thing, but maybe just the thought of having to care for two homes was a lot. “I’m sure that finding property on the island isn’t easy.”
“No. Not in the least. I don’t really want to rent.
That’s my problem. Buying is much more expensive here, and maintenance on top of it.
There are no condos. The only townhouses are those in the retirement community.
I’ve brought it up to my other cousins who own Bond Realty and the retirement community, that they should put some higher end condos up. ”
“What did they say?”
“I think they are trying to figure out the need or draw. Permanent housing is always needed but not as profitable for them once it’s sold.
The rent is just an ongoing thing. The condos are different.
And it takes time. I get it. If I had a family and were living on the island, I’d want a house of my own anyway. ”
“I had an apartment after I lost my house. It was easier. It’s not like I had any possessions after the fire.”
Everything was gone.
His clothing. His furniture. Most of his memories.
Which wasn’t true, but maybe he allowed them to be wiped away.
It was too painful to remember the first time he carried Zoe through the front door of their house.
The holidays they shared there.
The fun she had decorating.
Yeah, best not to go down that memory lane.
“That had to be hard.”
“In a lot of ways.”
“And we’ll table that. This is supposed to be fun today. Not like you’re going to have fun while I swap out clothing, but you agreed to accompany me, so the good with the bad.”
He let out a half laugh, half snort. “It’s a good way to think about things.”
“So, I heard you dressed up like Superman on Halloween.”
“I normally dressed up before if I was working. The kids love it. It’s the only thing I had. What I wore the last two years.”
He had other superhero costumes, but again, lost them in the fire.
“I do it too when I’m working. It’s not always easy to find a costume that doesn’t get in the way or isn’t revealing.”
“Now this I’ve got to hear.”
She shoved at his arm. “It’s not like it’s going to be a Playboy Bunny.”
His gaze drifted over her long brown hair, loose down her back, the ends falling into soft waves. Her hazel eyes were darker today. He’d noticed they shifted with what she wore. They were indoors, and she had on a black fleece, so it made sense.
Her lips were bare of color and stretched wide in a grin. One she seemed to wear often around him. Or maybe that was just who she was and he shouldn’t read too much into it. He wasn’t special. Not really. Or not as much as he hoped.
The fleece hid most of her shape now. The same body he’d paid far too much attention to at the gym two days ago.
Toned legs in fitted black bike shorts that stopped mid-thigh. A teal stretchy workout top that clung like a second skin, proof that nothing in her life was done halfway.
Play hard. Work hard. Laugh hard.
And yet, the thing that stayed with him most was how easily she made him laugh, when so few people could.
The strange part was, he didn’t think she was even trying.
“What was it if not a bunny?” he asked.
“I didn’t say it wasn’t a bunny,” she said, laughing. “I said not a Playboy Bunny.”
“Did you have ears on your head?”
“I always have ears on my head,” she said, rolling her eyes, then tucking her hair back for him to see. “How did you become a doctor and not know that?”
“Big pink ones that stand up,” he clarified. “And a fluffy tail pinned to the back of your lab coat. A pink circle on your nose, whiskers and red lips.”
She burst out laughing. “You had me there until the red lips. Nope. Not happening. I don’t like any kind of lipstick. But tell me, Luca. It sounds like you’ve pictured this image before?”
She was wiggling her eyebrows at him.
He really hadn’t until she brought it up.
“It’s a pretty easy one to conjure up.”
“I’ll let you have that one,” she said. “And we are getting close to the dock. Let’s head back to my car.”
He followed behind her, his eyes dropping to her ass in fitted stretchy jeans and casual canvas sneakers.
He wasn’t dead, that was for sure.
Or at least his body wasn’t.
“Just so you know,” she said as they walked into her building thirty minutes later, “this is not a fashion emergency.”
He glanced sideways at her, slow and steady. “You say that now, but I’ve been misled before.”
She snorted. “By who? A patient in race car pajamas?”
“Hey. Those kids can be very persuasive.”
She bumped his arm with hers, they got on the elevator and she hit the button for the third floor. “I’m literally just swapping out seasonal clothes. Shorts go away, sweaters, jackets and boots come out. Very dramatic stuff.”
“I feel honored to be included,” he said solemnly. “This feels like a big step.”
She laughed. He never thought he had this quick of a wit before, but damn, if it didn’t just come fast with her.
“You’re watching me fold clothes into a bag, not meeting my parents.”
“Still,” he said. “It feels special.”
She shot him a look. “If you comment on how I organize my clothing, I’m kicking you out.”
“I wouldn’t dare,” he said, shaking his head, enjoying this banter much more than he thought he would. “But if there’s a sweater pile not neatly folded, I reserve the right to judge silently.”
“Thanks for the warning,” she said, shoving at his arm and almost pushing him off center...like she’d do with a friend. He had to keep reminding himself of that. “You can stay in the living room.”
He laughed. “Might be better.”
For both of them.
The thought of being in a woman’s bedroom—one he was feeling physically attracted to and she wasn’t returning it—might be too much of a leap for him.
Best to keep it light and friendly.
Seemed to be working for them both.
“You’re awfully agreeable today.”
“I’m enjoying myself,” he said easily. “Low expectations. No children blowing bodily fluids at me, no parents telling me how perfect junior is even as he’s punching their leg. You know, the fun days.”
“This is an upgrade for sure.”
“And you’re funny,” he added before he could stop himself. “But I told you that before.”
She smiled, softer this time. “I’m not even trying.”
“I know,” he said. “That’s the problem.”
She held his gaze in the elevator, as he’d let another set of words slip without control.
“Relax. You’ll survive and I’ll be fast.”
He watched her unlock the door a minute later, still smiling, and realized that somewhere between sweaters and jokes and walking beside her, that he already had.