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“You need anything?” She pushed the door wide and led him into a big main room. “We keep the place stocked with basics like aspirin and allergy meds.”
He swallowed the bitter irritation. Just when he’d been thinking how great it was finding the one person in the world who ignored his limp and frequent discomfort, she had to offer him aspirin.
“We have condoms too.”
There she went, twisting things around again. “Is that a proposition?”
“Would you like it to be?” She walked away from him, then sent him an exaggerated coy look over her shoulder. “Relax. It’s just an invitation to make yourself at home. This will take me a few minutes.”
He looked around, impressed by the feel of the place. Solid. Warm. Open. Like the Morris family as a whole.
“Shit,” he whispered. His stupid cover story idea might have bought them a weekend of freedom to take down Lester, but her family was the kind that would worry over her sudden engagement to a broken man with no family.
They’d worry more about her when they learned there wasn’t anything real to back it up. He felt like a world-class jerk. This was why he avoided relationships. No one needed the drama of entanglements.
He wasn’t a monk, he went out on dates occasionally, but he never wasted a second imagining something long term. Life was notoriously short and unpredictable, and he liked the control of being alone.
He’d gone out before Thanksgiving and had a nice time with… a blonde. He couldn’t recall her name right this minute, but she worked at the university. Scrubbing at his face, he walked toward the kitchen in search of the aspirin he didn’t want to take.
“Janet!” he said aloud when the name came to him.
“You okay?” Heather stood at the kitchen door, biting back a smile.
“Just trying to recall a witness’s name.”
“Right.” She didn’t believe him, that much was obvious, but she didn’t press the issue. “Is there anything you need? Besides the aspirin?”
“Not if we’re headed to my place next.” He shook two pills into his palm and returned the bottle to the cabinet.
“All right. I’m almost done here.”
“Great.” He wanted to get away from this place that reeked of family ties and happy memories.
“Glasses are in the cabinet to your left,” she said, backing out of the kitchen. “Or you can grab a bottle of water from the fridge.”
“Thanks.” He took the pills, but he used his hand rather than dirty a glass or bother with a water bottle.
The Morrises had created a nice place out here and he respected the effort even as he resisted the family structure that made it all possible.
He was admiring the calming view of nature from the window over the sink when he heard Heather’s voice in the other room.
“I am not settling.” Her voice was low, but the intensity came through loud and clear. “Look, this isn’t a good time.”
Dale lingered in the kitchen, not sure where else to go to give her more privacy.
“Of course I sound defensive. You’re attacking me. Just keep an eye on Bentley.”
Ah, Bentley must be the name of the massive cat who’d stared him down when he’d searched her house.
She sighed again. “Please?” Another pause. “I am a grown up and if you rewind this conversation you’ll realize I’m the only one acting like one.”
He stepped to the kitchen doorway, thinking there might be something he could do to help.
Spotting him, she held the phone away from her ear and stuck out her tongue. “What? Are you there?” She made a garbled, gusty sound. “The signal’s bad. I’ll call you later.” With an exaggerated move, she powered off her phone and showed him the blank screen.
“That sounded like more than a text message.”
“Sarah, my oldest sister, is a real bitch,” she said. “Sometimes,” she amended after a long pause.
