Chapter 4
CHLOE
“Oh my God. Where the hell am I?” I asked aloud as I woke the following morning. It took me a minute to recognize my surroundings when I opened my hazy eyes.
Then came the sound of Effie yapping away to her father from down the hall. I looked at the time on my phone. It was seven thirty. She’d likely be leaving for school soon. He’d probably be driving her, although I couldn’t be sure of that. Maybe she took the bus.
Pulling the covers over me, I vowed not to come out until I had confirmation that they were both gone.
Not long after that, the front door slammed shut, and then I heard Evan’s truck roaring to life outside the window.
Relief washed over me as I forced myself up to take advantage of the empty house while I could.
I had no idea whether Evan was just dropping her off or going on to work.
Hopefully, it was the latter. I could really use some peace and quiet.
Out in the kitchen, I rummaged through the cabinets in search of coffee. I figured I’d make it as fast as I could and take it back to my room.
But I was still looking for it a few minutes later when the door opened. Shit. I hadn’t even put a bra on. “Fuck me,” I muttered.
“That would be the second time you’ve asked me to do that,” Evan cracked as a piece of his black hair fell over his forehead.
My mouth dropped open. What a jackass. “You weren’t meant to hear that,” I snapped, ignoring his jab.
Evan threw his keys on the counter. “You seem surprised to see me, like I don’t live here.” His eyes briefly landed on my chest before he returned his antagonizing gaze to mine.
I positioned my long, sandy-colored hair over my breasts. “Well, I heard you leave. I thought maybe you were gone for the day.”
“No such luck. I don’t leave for another forty-five minutes to go to the plant. I do my walk-throughs and in-person meetings from nine thirty in the morning until I have to pick up Effie, and then I work the rest of the afternoons from home. But I’m always on call.”
Now that we were alone, you could cut the tension with a knife.
This might’ve been the first moment I’d allowed myself to fully appreciate how damn handsome grown-ass Evan was.
It made me a bit weak in the knees. He was the epitome of sexy today in faded jeans that fit him perfectly.
His brown jacket had a shearling collar, and the smell of his cologne permeated the kitchen.
My nipples stiffened as he looked down at me.
I cleared my throat. “Her school must be pretty close, then?”
“Right down the road. Part of why I chose this house to stay in for now. It’s closer to her school than our old house or our new place.” He took off his jacket and placed it on the back of a chair.
There was so much I wanted to know about his life. More than anything, I wanted to ask what he’d dreamed about when he called my name. I was also tempted to ask about Effie’s mother. He’d said they were divorced, but was she still in the picture? Why was Effie living with him full time?
But instead of unloading all my questions, I scratched my pounding head and asked, “Do you have coffee here, by any chance?”
Rather than answer, he stalked over to a cabinet above the fridge—the one place I hadn’t checked.
With my arms wrapped around my chest, I watched as he pulled out a filter and placed it in the machine before scooping some grounds. I admired how the muscles in his back moved with the motion of his arms, the way his jeans hugged his ass.
After he started the pot, the room filled with the bubbling sound of coffee brewing. Evan turned toward me, and we stared at each other in tense silence.
“How did you sleep?” he finally asked.
“Not bad, all things considered.”
“All things being me?” He arched a brow.
“I have nothing against you, Evan.”
“Oh really? Because that unhinged letter you wrote me says otherwise. It’s not like time could change all that. Especially when we haven’t been in touch since then. I never reached out. And you never called, either.”
“I was very emotional when I wrote that letter.” I gulped. “And drunk. I wasn’t supposed to send it. It was just meant to be a way to let out my feelings.”
“So, why did you send it?”
“I wish I understood…”
“You mean to tell me you don’t still feel that way, even a little?”
My gaze fell to the floor. “It’s been a decade. Like I told you, I’d been drinking, so I don’t entirely remember what I wrote.”
Evan scratched his chin. “I don’t know if I believe that.”
I looked up. “Regardless of what unkind words I expressed in a drunken, regrettable moment…I’ve moved on.”
“Doesn’t seem like you’ve moved on given the way you raced out of here yesterday to find another place, just so you didn’t have to look at me.”
“Well, you weren’t exactly welcoming.” He was right that I’d raced out of here. But his assumption that I didn’t want to look at him? No. After all these years, it was still hard not to look at him.
The coffee gurgled to signal the end of its cycle. Saved by the gurgle.
Evan opened the cabinet. To my surprise, he set down two mugs and began preparing my coffee just the way I liked it: two sugars and heavy cream. He stirred and then handed it to me.
“Thank you.”
I didn’t have to ask how he knew the way I took it.
Back when he’d been living with us, Evan and I had often caught up over coffee in my family’s kitchen before the crack of dawn while everyone else was asleep.
So this was far from the first time he’d prepared a cup for me.
Little did he know, I’d actually had my very first cup of coffee with him.
When I’d started getting up early to join him, I hadn’t tried coffee yet.
But I’d pretended to need the caffeine just as much as he did, though the only morning jolt I’d wanted back then was Evan.
The smell of coffee right now, the smell of him...
I was drowning in nostalgia, tinged with a bittersweet knowing that so much had changed.
We stood across from each other, silently sipping our coffees as if this was some sort of duel—who could drink it the fastest without saying anything?
Eventually, Evan set his mug down. “There are fresh towels in the linen closet off the hallway. Effie has some girly bodywash in the shower, if you need it. Pomegranate scent or some crap.” He lifted his mug again and added, “You look like you could use a shower.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Thank you. I guess I’ll take a shower before I head out to look for a place. I’ll let you know if I find one, so I can get out of your hair.”
He took a sip and saluted me with his mug. “Good luck with that.”
It was embarrassing to think I hadn’t taken a shower since I left Chicago. I grabbed a couple of towels from the closet and headed into the small bathroom.
After sliding the shower curtain open, I smiled at the sight of both masculine and “girly” bodywash side by side.
As the warm water rained down on me, I squeezed pomegranate shower gel into my hand and thought about how cute and honest Effie had been last night when she’d come into my room.
Closing my eyes and trying to relax, I took my sweet time lathering my body and massaging my neck.
After I finished what turned out to be a twenty-minute shower, I stepped out and wrapped myself in a towel. But a loud crash just outside the door caused me to jump. “Is everything okay?” I called.
“No,” Evan groaned from the other side of the wall.
Tightening the towel around me, I started to open the door, but he pushed it closed. “Stay back!” he ordered.
“Why? What the hell happened?”
“The light fixture fell. There’s glass everywhere.”
“Are you hurt?”
“No, I’m not,” he answered, sounding pissed.
“How the hell did that happen?”
After a delay, he finally admitted, “I hit it with my head, and it came off the hinges.”
Covering my mouth, I tried to stifle my laughter.
“I’m glad you find that amusing,” Evan grumbled.
“I mean, come on. How am I supposed to not laugh at that? You know I’ve always had a problem with laughing at things I shouldn’t. It’s a visceral reaction.” I used a second towel to dry my hair.
“Well, so happy I could be your entertainment for the day.”
“I have to ask… How do you hit your head on a light hard enough that it comes crashing down?”
Evan sighed. “I’m too tall for this house, apparently, and that particular light hangs too low. I was rushing around, trying to get shit done before I have to go to work, and I didn’t duck. I normally remember to, but I’m a bit…distracted today.”
“I think you need to contact the owner and complain,” I quipped from behind the door.
“Very funny, wiseass.”
My face hurt from smiling. “Am I supposed to just stay in the bathroom?”
“Well, this is a problem, because there’s no fucking vacuum here.”
“Isn’t it the owner’s responsibility to stock the place with necessities?”
“We have a cleaning service that comes when it’s rented out, so no.”
I really wanted to get dressed. But that required getting to the bedroom. I’d only come in here with two towels and had walked in barefoot. “Am I trapped indefinitely?” I asked.
“I thought I could clean up all the pieces before you came out, but it’s not gonna happen without a vacuum. The shards are too small. Are you covered?”
“Yes.”
The next thing I knew, he’d opened the door and scooped me up.
I felt weightless in his arms, the denim of his shirt rough against my skin.
I breathed him in, but tried not to make it obvious.
Evan carried me down the hall to my room, his boots crunching over what seemed like hundreds of pieces of glass.
After he placed me on the ground, Evan looked down at what was probably a stunned expression on my face. I cleared my throat, tightening the towel around me. But before I could say anything, he walked away, slamming the door behind him.
It might’ve seemed like a simple act, but being in his arms for those seconds had completely undone me.
My heart raced. In all these years, I’d never had that kind of close contact with him.
It seemed crazy to think he’d never held me like that before, given how close we’d been.
But he and I had never actually been more than friends, so why would he?
I wasn’t prepared to feel him against me like that today, and my heart certainly hadn’t gotten the message that it meant nothing.
Forcing myself to shake off the weird emotions bubbling to the surface, I got dressed in a pair of jeans and a sweater.
I added heavy boots for my treacherous trek through the hallway. I was already late to visit my mother.
When I emerged from the room, Evan was nowhere to be found. I wasn’t sure whether to feel relief or disappointment.
Then, just as I opened the front door to leave, Evan came toward me holding a vacuum. “Borrowed this from the neighbor,” he explained.
“Oh good.” I exhaled. “Anyway, I’ll be out of your way. I’m heading out to hopefully find another place after I visit Mom.”
“Whatever you want.” He heaved a sigh.
The pissed-off look on his face made me want to laugh for some reason. I was terrible, still wanting to giggle over his collision with the light fixture.
Evan narrowed his eyes. “I know that look, Chloe. Say what you wanna say…”
“I mean, we all knew you were hard-headed…” I snorted.
Evan rolled his eyes. “You can go now.” He walked past me in a huff.