Chapter 7 #2
It was nearing midnight when the front door to Wendy’s home opened. I gasped and held up the broom in my hands like it was a baseball bat. I could have sworn I’d locked it.
“Whoa there, it’s just me.” Priest held up his hands.
I sagged in relief, the broom dropping from its position. “Sorry. Just a bit jumpy.”
“That’s alright. Where are the girls?” He looked exhausted.
Even so, he filled the room. He just had this presence about him that drew the eye.
Huge and dangerous. But right now he was a worn out father worried about his daughters.
The dichotomy of it all tugged at those places inside of me that wanted him.
Not the naughty places that couldn’t seem to quit thinking dirty thoughts.
The soul deep spots that saw the man and yearned for all he could give.
Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. I was just begging to have my heart shredded. “I fed them some dinner and they passed out not long after. That was about eight.” I eyed the clock. I hadn’t realized how quickly time had flown.
Priest nodded and walked back into the hallway to go check on his girls. I gave him privacy. Even though I wanted to run to him, throw my arms around him, and ask him how Wendy was, I couldn’t. His priority was to those sweet little girls. I had to give him space for them first. I could wait.
Needing to keep busy like I had been for the last four hours, I went back to sweeping.
I’d already dusted, cleaned the bathrooms, vacuumed, and washed the sheets and comforter in Wendy’s bedroom.
I’d have done the girls’ too, but they were using them.
In between all that, I’d been cooking up every scrap of food Wendy had in the house.
I was sticking it all in the freezer for when she came home.
A quick peek into the hall showed him moving toward the bedroom and looking in. I wasn’t sure if he was going to wake the girls or just check in on them. I went back to cleaning.
It didn’t matter if the man I was half in love with belonged to Wendy.
Not when she was sick and had just gone to the hospital.
I’d make her homecoming as easy as possible because that’s the way my mom and Grams had raised me.
If Wendy was who he wanted, I’d get out of their way. My heart gave a wrenching throb.
I paused in the act of sweeping. If she came home. The thought made the panic rise up within me so I doubled my speed while sweeping. Strong hands clamped down on my arms from behind, stilling my movements.
“Hey, hey, what are you doing?” Priest spun me so he could look at my face.
“Cleaning. Cooking. Making myself useful,” I muttered. Trying to jerk out of his hold, so I could go back to work, I shrugged when he held firm. “I need to do something.”
He let me go and watched quietly as I swept the dirt in the kitchen into a dustpan. I set a mop bucket under the sink faucet and started filling the bucket with hot water. Searching under the sink, I grabbed a cleaning agent and dumped some into the water, watching it create suds.
“Sorry about missing dinner tonight.”
As if that was important right now. Sure I wanted to know what he needed to tell me, but that could wait. No one could have foreseen all this happening. I didn’t want to talk about it, so I changed the topic.
“Is Wendy…” I couldn’t bring myself to ask the rest of the question. There was no reading the expression on Priest’s face, it was closed up tight behind a blank mask.
“She’s alive, but in rough shape,” he told me, then fell silent again.
I didn’t pry, even though it all but killed me not to ask him anything.
Instead, I went back to cleaning. My mom’s house was so clean you could eat your dinner off the floor.
It was only after I cleaned it from top to bottom each day, during my time off work, that I’d resorted to watching movies and eating junk food. Both helped ease the grief.
A hand flashed past my face and he jerked the nozzle until the water turned off. “What’s going on Jenny?”
“Nothing.” I wasn’t about to tell him that if I stopped for too long that thoughts of my grams would creep in. Or that I was worried he still wanted to be with Wendy. He didn’t need that right now. The man was already carrying a huge burden on his shoulders. He didn’t need mine.
“If there was nothing wrong you wouldn’t be flying around my ex's house like the Tasmanian Devil.” His mouth was set in a grim line.
Ex. I knew they weren’t together anymore, but the title eased some of the burden in my heart, which only created more shame.
I shouldn’t be wanting Priest to assure me that he wasn’t interested in Wendy anymore.
Not while she was lying in the hospital fighting for her life.
It made me feel lower than pond scum, but I couldn’t seem to help it.
The relief that flared inside my chest was white hot.
When I didn’t respond, he grabbed me again and this time jerked me against his body. He didn’t kiss me, just held me close, his huge hand smoothing over my hair. I wasn’t sure if he was hugging me because I needed it, or he did.
“I’m fine,” I mumbled against his chest. When had I turned my face into his shirt? Why was I breathing in the spicy scent of his cologne like it was the only thing keeping the air moving in and out of my lungs?
“Okay, but just let me hold you a minute.”
How could a girl say no to that? So I stood there, with his strong arms around me, letting myself enjoy this one last time before I had to let him go.
I had to remember that it didn’t matter that he and Wendy were separated.
As much as I wanted him I was more afraid of getting my heart broken again.
Why was it so difficult to remember that when I was around him?