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The realtor advised him on how much to offer, and Chad low-balled it. He wasn’t sure if the people were desperate to sell the place, if they knew they were lucky to get any offer at all with all the foundation work the house might or might not need, or if Chad’s short but heartfelt personal note had softened them up, but within hours they accepted his offer without haggling. It also helped that Owen had loaned him enough money that he could make a full cash offer without involving bankers or mortgage companies.
“Should I be worried that they jumped on that offer?” Chad asked the realtor a few days later at the closing table.
“You should be ecstatic.” She patted his hand. “It was the letter that did the trick. They saw that story about you in the local paper and know your parents and brother live nearby.”
“So it was a pity deal,” Chad said, but then he shrugged. “Where do I sign?”
“I think it was more of a gratitude deal.”
She opened a folder and pulled out a crayon drawing of a United States flag with a family of four stick figures in line and a green person in a crooked wheelchair holding the little boy’s hand. “Thank you for your service, Sergeant Mitchell” was written in bold black crayon across the bottom of the page.
“Have you ever seen a grown Marine cry?” he asked the realtor who was blinking back her own flood of tears.
“Just once,” she said, wiping an eye on the back of her hand.
He carefully folded the drawing and tucked it into the pocket of the suit jacket Lindsey had talked him into wearing for the occasion. He still hadn’t shown her inside the house, but doubted he’d be able to keep her away for long now that it was his. He was getting around so well with his crutches that she had a hard time keeping up with him, so maybe he could sneak inside, lock the door, and pretend he wasn’t home. He knew he’d be crushed if she hated the place even after he fixed it up.
“Read and initial here,” the realtor said, pointing to a spot marked with a sticky arrow. “And here.”
Less than half an hour later, Chad became a home owner. And he owed his brother a hell of a lot of money. The pipsqueak knew better than to call the house a gift. Chad really did understand why Lindsey kept that ridiculous I Owe You list. For certain people, it was harder to accept charity than to offer it. He happened to be one of those people too.
Chapter Thirteen
Lindsey stared out Owen’s back door, knowing she was going to have to say good-bye to Chad in a few minutes, and that she needed a moment to pull herself together so he wouldn’t realize how much she depended on him being near. Tonight, Chad would be staying at his new house for the first time, and the thought of sleeping a single night without him against her was already eating at her. It wasn’t as if she’d never see him again, but it felt like a step in that direction. A step in the wrong direction.
Although she felt some of bitterness toward the ugly house two blocks down for stealing Chad from her, she was dying to see the inside. She’d even walked past it a few times since he’d bought it a week ago, and honestly, the place looked as terrible as the first time she’d seen it. And now it was accessorized with a huge dumpster rapidly filling with bits of wood and drywall and used toilets. She couldn’t help but wonder if he was afraid that she’d fall through termite-infested floors or get some horrible lung infection from whatever mold grew in the walls or be carried off by roaches and rats, but knowing him as she now did, he was probably just afraid that she’d criticize his impulsive decision to buy the place. Based on the listing pictures she’d peeked at online, the inside was just as bad as the outside, but it didn’t matter. She wished he understood that she’d never do anything to bring him down and was sorry she’d laughed herself silly when he’d first told her he wanted to buy the place.
He’d been so busy with the house remodel and physical therapy the past week that she hadn’t seen him much outside the bed they habitually shared. She missed him terribly and kept offering to help him fix up his house. Not because she had any skills—and with less than six weeks until the baby was due, she had no business breathing in paint fumes and standing on ladders—but because sleeping beside him just wasn’t enough. She was used to him being around. She wanted him to stick around. But she knew he had to make a life for himself. When he moved into his new place, she’d miss sleeping curled into his side even more than she’d miss the sex.
“I guess I’ll see you around,” Chad said, which startled her to turn from the backdoor.
His packed bag sat on his lap, and she felt like trying to squeeze herself inside as a stowaway so he wouldn’t leave her behind. She hated that he was in the wheelchair again. He’d been using crutches to get around unless he had to carry something—like the bag in his lap that she’d never fit inside. His prosthetic had come in, but his workouts at the gym had strengthened his leg enough that it had to be sent back for fitting adjustments, a development that both delighted and frustrated him.
When she didn’t answer him and did nothing but stare at him with her heart lodged in her throat, he added, “Don’t look sad, angel. Don’t you think it’s time for me to stay a night in my own place?”
He could tell she was unhappy, so why didn’t he stay? She’d tried to prepare herself, but nothing could have made their looming separation easier.
“Yeah, it’s time,” she said, her heart aching at thought of losing him as part of her daily life. And he was moving less than two blocks away.
“In a few days, I’ll bring you over to see the house,” he said, “but I want you to promise to stay away until I get some more things taken care of.”
“Like the roach infestation?”
He scowled. “There is no roach infestation.”
“Termites?”
“A few, but they’ve already been exterminated. I still have those sewer alligators to deal with, though, so you have to promise to keep your distance.”
“I’ll miss you,” she blurted. She bit her lip before anything else slipped out. She wasn’t supposed to let herself get attached to him. She knew that.
“I thought maybe you’d like to go out to dinner with me tonight.”
“Like a date?”
He grinned. “You can call it that if you want, or you could call it a meal.”
“Is Owen coming?”
Chad licked his lips. “Do you want him to come?”
Not really. She’d love to go on a date with Chad, and only Chad, but she hated to leave Owen out. The brothers were close, and it was good to see them together. She had the feeling that Owen had replaced Kellen’s missing friendship with his brother’s, but it wasn’t her business. She didn’t want to come between the two of them as she feared she’d been the wedge that had driven the friends apart. The whole band had imploded almost the moment she’d shown up.
“Do you want him to come?” she asked.
“Not especially,” he said.
“Me neither,” she admitted. She hoped Owen didn’t get his feelings hurt by being left out. Caitlyn had left the state for a business meeting, and he’d been more than a little needy for the past few days. Normally he’d spend his free time with Kellen, but since he couldn’t do that, he’d been monopolizing Chad’s time and even Lindsey’s.
“Then it’s a date,” Chad said. He wheeled himself to the back door. “I’ll pick you up at seven.”
“Do you want me to drive?” Her car was in the shop, and Owen’s still had that troublesome manual transmission.
“Nope. I want to pick you up for our date at seven. I’ll see you then.”
When he left, she didn’t feel as depressed as she’d anticipated. She was going to see him again in less than twelve hours.
“A date,” she said, smiling broadly. She hated to get her hopes up, but maybe he liked her as something more than the body that warmed his bed and the hands that changed his bandages. Maybe someday he might even love her. She couldn’t think of anything she wanted more than his love.
By the time seven rolled
around, Lindsey was a nervous wreck. She couldn’t explain why, exactly. Maybe it was because her relationship with Chad was evolving no matter how slowly and she liked what they already had. What if dating ruined everything? She knew she was being silly, but she’d never had much luck in the dating arena. It seemed every time she got serious about a guy, he bailed.
When the doorbell rang a few minutes before seven, she assumed it was a delivery because Chad always used the ramp at the back door. She was in the bathroom upstairs reapplying her lipstick for the fifth time, so she yelled to Owen, “Can you get that?”
A minute later Owen called up the stairs, “Your date is here.”
Why had Chad come to the front door and rung the bell? He was family and was welcome to come right in whenever he pleased. She gave her hair one last smooth-over with her hands and skipped down the steps, feeling lighter on her swollen feet than usual. God, she was a barn. Why had Chad even asked her out? He smiled up at her from the bottom of the steps, and he was standing. Using crutches to support himself, but definitely standing. He looked dashing in a button-down shirt—blue, like his eyes—and neatly pressed khaki shorts. When she stopped in front of him, she couldn’t stop herself from stepping up on tiptoe to kiss him.
“I keep forgetting you’re so tall,” she said.
“I figured you were tired of looking down at me.”
“Over me, under me, above me, beside me, I’ll never tire of looking at you.”
He bent to kiss her, taking his time to draw out the hunger between them. He slowly pulled away, but she circled his neck with one arm and leaned in for another sample. When they parted at last, she smiled at her once perfectly applied lipstick, which was now more on him than her, and rubbed at his pinkened lips with her thumb.
“Hey, kissy faces, I thought you were going out,” Owen said. “Have pity on the guy whose girlfriend is out of town.”
Lindsey almost asked him to join them if he was lonely, but caught herself before the invitation slipped out. She definitely didn’t want him to tag along. She hoped their first official date ended early. Not because she and Chad wouldn’t have a good time, but because she already had a burning desire to be alone with him in the privacy of their cozy bed.
“Why don’t you call Kellen and see if he wants to hang out with you tonight?” Chad asked.
