Chapter Sixteen #3
She leaned into his side. She couldn't help it—he was such a warm, reassuring presence. It hit her then that maybe that rooted in stillness line she'd come up with had originally been inspired by him. He was the steadiest guy she'd ever known.
When he leaned in to press a kiss to her lips, she closed her eyes, wanting to savor the moment, before sadly leaning back again. "We probably shouldn't do this out here, should we?"
He chuckled. "It was only a little kiss. And I don't think anyone around here would be disappointed if they caught us."
She smiled. "I didn't mean catching us. I meant…"
He waited, not letting her off the hook this time. "What did you mean? Why shouldn't we?"
After a few moments, she shrugged. "I guess there's no reason at all, is there?"
He shook his head. "Not that I can see. Although—wait. There's Zia."
She smiled at that. "Reaves, she adores you. I think our only problem there will be not letting her get too excited."
"Too excited?" he asked. "What does that mean?"
She shook her head and went with, "You know what she's like." If he didn't already know, this wasn't the moment to enlighten him.
His phone rang, cutting through the moment.
"Sorry. I need to…"
"Of course. You should take it. I can go—" She started to get up, but he kept his arm around her.
"Whatever it is, it shouldn't take more than a minute. Will you wait?"
"Okay."
She studied his profile as he answered.
"Hey, Elliott. Is everything all right?… Hm. I don't think so." He glanced at Alara. "No, it's all good, but next weekend would probably be better… Yeah… Yeah. Okay, and thanks, bud. I owe you big time… I know, but… yeah. Okay. I'll talk to you tomorrow."
He ended the call.
"Is everything all right?"
"Yeah. He was talking about rounding everyone up to go out this weekend."
She frowned. "You should go. Don't think you need to hang around here."
He turned to her and put a finger to her lips. She blinked indignantly, and he laughed.
"I'm only trying to save us from a conversation we don't need to have.
You'll say I don't need to be here. I'll tell you there's nowhere else I'd rather be.
You'll get embarrassed by that, but I won't back down.
" He brushed his thumb over her cheek. "You have the first infusion tomorrow.
Henry said it might make you feel awful.
I don't think we should make any plans for the weekend till we know.
If you feel good, we can do whatever you like.
Take Zia out somewhere, or go to my apartment to hang out—she likes the park around the corner. Or we can meet up with the gang."
"Is that what Elliott wanted?"
He smiled. "I think what he wants is to engineer an opportunity to be around Delaney again."
"Oh! Callie said there were sparks flying between the two of them at Jacob and Becca's wedding."
"That's right. I don't know if anything will come of it. We'll have to see."
"And you don't want to help him out this weekend?"
"I do. But he and Delaney will figure it out or they won't. That's up to them; it’s not in my control." He frowned. "I don't mean that I'm trying to control you."
She chuckled. "I know. Don't look so worried." She reached up to touch his cheek and pressed her lips to his again. "You'd never do that. I don't trust many people, but I feel like I can trust you with anything."
He wrapped both his arms around her, hugging her close to his chest. "You can. I promise." He kissed the top of her head. "Oh, and I meant to tell you. Grady texted me earlier. He wanted to know if he should pick up Zia in the morning."
He held his hand up before she could protest that she'd already arranged with Hannah that they’d drop Zia off on their way to Dr. Ambrose’s office.
"I know that wasn't what you and Hannah set up.
But he's taking Ava to the animal shelter—apparently they go there sometimes—and he thought it'd be fun for Zia to go with them.
" He gave her a rueful smile. "And the reason he asked me instead of you is that he was talking about everyone going out this weekend as well. "
She stared at him for a moment, part of her thinking that she should be upset that people were trying to make arrangements for Zia without her involvement. But it wasn't like that, and she knew it.
"What do you think?" he asked, after a few moments. "We can still drop her off if you don't like the idea."
"Honestly, I think she'd love to go. And it's very kind of him."
"He's a good guy. And he knows what he's doing—he was raising Ava by himself before they ever met Hannah."
She closed her eyes briefly. "I know."
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah. I'm good." She smiled. "It's nothing. Just a thought that hit me. And see—I didn't say I'm fine."
"I did notice. Thanks." He nodded. "Do you want to share what the thought was?"
"I feel awful admitting it. But it was relief." She swallowed. "Grady has Ava because her mom died. When we saw him at Molly's after my first appointment, and he offered to take Zia…"
She shuddered.
He tightened his arms around her. "You don't need to say it. I was scared too."