I wait a few beats, then ask, “If there isn’t a hotel or short-term rental, do you have any ideas on where I can stay? I’ll settle for a hobbit house or a shoe, even though I’m not necessarily an old woman to live in it yet.”
His jaw muscle ticks again, and the vein along the back on his hand bulges.
So, he doesn’t like poor attempts at humor. Got it.
Slowly, almost as if the lack of speed were deliberate, he reaches out a fourth time and kills the music. He takes in a long breath, his nostrils flaring as he does so. This time when he looks at me, it’s not fleeting. He pins me with his intense golden gaze. “You have to stay with me.”
5
Levi Redding watched as the small woman’s rich brown eyes widened a second time in disbelief beneath the curtain of thick bangs the color of watered-down strawberry wine.
He hadn’t been surprised by her initial reaction to him, a look of shock tinted with a hint of fear freezing her features. After all, that was the same look he’d been receiving since he’d turned fifteen and shot up quicker than a stalk of corn after a good rain, finding himself towering over every other person he met.
At first, he’d tried to make accommodations to ease their distress. If people were frightened because of his size, he’d decided he’d simply try to make himself smaller. But no matter how much he willed it, he couldn’t shrink, and all hunching his shoulders did was make his back ache. It was a pursuit in futility, especially when he had another growth spurt less than a year later, topping him off at 6’7” and tipping the scales toward three hundred pounds.
It didn’t seem fair, the fact he’d tried so hard to make things easier for others when they never once offered him the same courtesy in return. It was about that time he accepted facts as they were: People didn’t like Levi, and unsurprisingly, that wasperfectly fine with him. Because the truth was, Levi Redding really didn’t like people all that much either.
Levi returned his focus to the road. This stretch was fairly straight, and he doubted they’d pass another car. However, there were still potholes to avoid, and one never knew when a deer or a squirrel would dart in front of their path.
Besides, he had no idea how long it would take before the sprite in the passenger’s seat would start flapping those cupid’s-bow lips of hers again.
“What do you mean, I have to stay with you? And isn’t that something you should discuss with your wife first?” Her wide eyes now stared at him through narrow, accusing slits.
“I mean,” he said slowly, “that I have an extra bedroom you can use.” He probably should have phrased it this way the first time. As an invitation instead of a demand. Then again, she really didhaveto stay with him. There weren’t any other options that he was aware of. Not so much as a Best Western within an hour of Turkey Grove.
He reached up and scratched his jaw, the hairs of his beard tickling his fingers. “And I’m not married.” He quickly glanced at her knitted fingers, noticing the absence of a ring there too.
“Thank you for the offer.” Her voice wavered, unsteady and grasping. “But I’m sure I can come up with something.”
Like what?He wanted to ask but held his tongue. Turkey Grove’s population was such that the youngest of elementary school kids could be in charge of counting the census. Even then, its residents were scattered across the hills and dales. Chances were, someone probably did have another spare bedroom she could use, but he wasn’t really acquainted with any of his neighbors well enough to know for sure. Unless someone needed their car serviced, he tended to keep to himself.
“There’s a store, right?” she asked. “I think I recall a general store in the heart of town.”
Levi grunted. Yeah, there was a building that sold thingsrun by Jack MacDonald, but Levi had never actually found anything he needed on the shelves. Most of the items sold were odds and ends that didn’t make much sense. Instead, Levi drove over to Chattanooga once a month to buy supplies in bulk from a warehouse store. Otherwise, he just did without.
“If nothing else, I can purchase a tent. I’m sure there’s a campground nearby where I can pitch it.”
She was sure of a lot of things and wrong on all accounts.
With a sigh, Levi pressed on the brake and slowed the truck to a stop. He’d offered to house her, and she’d turned him down. He should leave her to her own devices.
He should, but he wouldn’t.
Despite the fact that he didn’t like people and having Miss Holt living under the same roof as him would be more than an inconvenience—it would be downright painful—he was a man who strived to do the right thing. Not helping when someone needed help was decidedlynotthe right thing.
“Why are we stopping?” She peered at him warily again.
It was a small mercy that whatever soap she used—thankfully nothing floral but something with a fresh subtlety to it—hadn’t caused his skull to grip his head in a vice. But it was only a matter of time. Attending church as a kid had been torture because of all the ladies and their perfumes. He’d never been able to be within a few feet of a woman without the scent of her causing him a massive headache.
Sometimes in more ways than one.
He located his house key on the key ring and twisted it off the hoop of metal, holding it out to her.
“What’s this?” she asked, eyeing his offering with skepticism.
“The key to my house.”
Her brows pulled so low that her bangs no longer hid them. “Why are you giving me your house key?”
