Chapter 15
FIFTEEN
Love is hugs.
Gil wasn’t sitting out in his camping chair.
Which was wise given it’s not only cold but also starting to drizzle.
I shivered and wished I had taken the time to put on a coat instead of a thin cardigan.
A light shone from inside the tent, and it allowed me to make out the shape of Gil, sitting up.
He was talking softly. Shamelessly, I crept closer.
“…sure you wear your big coat, okay?” he said. After a pause, he laughed softly. Must be on a phone call. “I’m doing great. The new house is nice, and I like my room a lot.”
His room? Is that what he was calling his tent? Who was he talking to? His voice was gentle and measured; it reminded me of someone speaking to a child.
“Sure, I’ll send you pictures of it.” Another chuckle and then I heard my name. “Well, Eleanor has long blonde hair and blue eyes and a big smile.” Pause. “You know, she does kind of look like a princess. You’d like her, I think.”
I found myself biting back laughter. A princess, huh?
“Okay, yes. Love you, too. Sleep tight. Don’t let the bed bugs bite.”
The tent went silent. I waited a couple of beats before clearing my throat. “Gil?”
The tent flap unzipped, and Gil peeked his head out. He was wearing a hat with triangle ears and curly, white fur.
“What is that on your head?”
With a grunt, Gil snatched the hat from his head and climbed out of the tent. He had a lantern in one hand and the balled-up hat clenched in the other. “It’s nothing.”
“No, that was definitely something.” I pointed at his hand. “I want to see.”
“No.”
“Please?”
“No.”
I batted my eyelashes. “How can you say no to a princess?”
His eyes narrowed. “Were you eavesdropping?”
“I wouldn’t call it that.”
After setting the lantern next to the camping chair, he crossed his arms. The red and yellow flannel shirt he wore tightened across his shoulders. “I would.”
Hadn’t Sunny said I should get to know him better? Maybe this was my chance. I crept closer. “Who were you talking to?”
“None of your business.”
“You realize you know way more about me than I know about you? You practically live with me.”
He snorted. “Actually no, I don’t. I live in a tent in the backyard.”
“Come on.”
With a shake of his head, he walked around me and headed for the carport and his car. I followed.
“Please?”
“You aren’t going to stop asking, are you?”
I pretended to think about it. “Chances are slim.”
“I was talking to my brother.”
“Your brother?” I asked in surprise. A much younger brother from how Gil was talking to him.
“Yes, my brother.” Abruptly, he stopped; I didn’t.
With a surprised yelp, I smacked into his back and sort of bounced, my feet coming out from under me.
I squeezed my eyes shut and braced for the fall, but it never came.
The next second I slammed into yet another immovable object.
When I opened my eyes, it wasn’t the ground, it was Gil.
Somehow, he’d spun around fast enough to grab my waist with his arm and prevent a fall.
Both of us froze.
We were chest to chest. I could now confirm he was as big and solid as he looked. The air around us seemed to crackle. I wondered if he felt that.
I lifted my eyes to his face. It was much too dark, but somehow, I knew he was looking right at me. My breaths came out in rapid puffs visible in the chilly air. I heard him swallow and he loosened his grip on my waist. Getting my feet under me, I pushed my hands against his chest to stand.
“Sorry about that,” I said quickly, shuffling back a few feet. “Wasn’t paying attention.”
“Wasn’t all your fault,” he said in a way that sounded like he thought it was indeed all my fault. He stomped the rest of the way to his car and set the crumpled hat on top of it. “Did you need something?”
The sky began spitting rain. I ducked under the carport and leaned against my car. “Oliver was worried about you. I told him I’d check on you.”
“I’m fine.”
“Good.” I stared down at my shoes. “It’s pretty cold out.”
“Yeah, it is.”
I peeked up at him. “Can I ask you a question?”
“Will it make you go away sooner if I say yes?”
“Why haven’t you asked to move into the house?” Since Sunny had mentioned it, I couldn’t stop thinking about why he would do it. Why wouldn’t he insist on using what was his?
“What?”
“I mean, half the house is yours. But you agreed to living out here without even arguing.”
His head tilted to the side—I’d noticed he did that when he was thinking. “Because you have a kid.”
“Sure, but a lot of people would never have agreed, even with a kid involved.”
He shrugged. “It’s not that big of a deal.”
“Yeah, it is,” I said quietly.
His chest rose and fell with a deep breath. “I was raised by a single mom until my stepdad came along. Guess I understand where you’re coming from.” He opened a car door. “And I work with kids. You did the right thing, putting Oliver first. I respect that.”
“Oh. Thank you,” I said. “That’s kind of you.”
“Not kind. Just the minimum needed to be a decent human.” From the car, he pulled out a heavy winter jacket.
The kind of jacket almost no one in our area of Texas bothered owning because the cold days were so few and far between.
He slipped it on and zippered it. The tag dangled from the sleeve; he didn’t tear it off.
“Then thank you for being a decent human.” I wrapped my cardigan around me tighter.
“If we’re done here, I’m going to bed.” He ducked back in the car and pulled out a new pack of socks, the thick, heavy kind.
A twinge of guilt tickled my brain as I shivered against the cold. The cold Gil was going to be sleeping in. It had been over two weeks and well, he hadn’t murdered us yet. I chewed on the inside of my cheek.
The slam of the car door brought me back to the present. Gil marched over to the tent. He’d left the hat on his car, so I snagged it and unfurled it. With a giggle, I put it on.
“A sheep hat, huh?”
Gil turned. “My brother likes sheep.”
“Baa.” But honestly, the thing was doing a good job of warming me up.
He unzipped the tent. “Goodnight, Eleanor.”
“Night.” I walked slowly back to the house, tugging on the flaps of the hat I’d taken with me. That twinge of guilt was quickly becoming an insistent pang. Could I ignore it? I could try…
With a groan, I turned back and stormed over to the tent.
“Oh, fine. You can sleep inside. But you get the clown room.”