“What kind of pencil is that?”Emily asked.
“It’s a construction pencil,” he said, showing her the flat sides.“It doesn’t roll away.”
Emily insisted on writingLEMONADEherself, with Paul’s help.She made a few of the letters backwards.Vanessa didn’t correct her, because the mistakes were cute and added to the sign’s authenticity.Emily traced the letters with marker, her little face screwed up in concentration.
Vanessa thought about asking Paul if he wanted kids of his own.She discarded the idea as quickly as it popped into her head.She couldn’t afford to give him the impression that she was shopping for a new daddy for Emily.
“Why don’t you have a girlfriend?”she asked instead.
He shrugged, noncommittal.
“When was your last one?”
“Before I left Houston.”
“What happened?”
He squinted into the distance before returning his gaze to her.It was clear that he didn’t want to answer.A quick scan of her body seemed to remind him that he was interested in having sex with her again, and therefore needed to participate in basic communication.“We had a falling-out.”
“Over what?”
“She didn’t come to the hospital to see me.”
Vanessa drew in a surprised breath.“How long were you there?”
“Four days.”
She tried to imagine a scenario in which a man she was dating took a bullet to the chest and she couldn’t drum up the concern to visit.The idea was foreign to her, though she’d met more than her share of lost souls in the ER.Some people had no emergency contacts, no human connections.
“We weren’t serious,” he said.“I was in stable condition.I didn’t expect her to weep at my bedside.”
“But you expected her to care, right?It’s a low bar.”
“It’s a low bar,” he agreed.
“Did she have a reason?”
“Not one that made a difference to me.”
“I’d come,” she said, after a moment.
His eyes cut into her, gray-blue and rock-steady.“I know.”
Vanessa didn’t ask any more questions.She was satisfied with the little hints he gave her of himself, and reluctant to engage with him on a deeper level.They were keeping things casual.Not cold or unfeeling, but casual.
While Emily put the finishing touches on her sign, Paul went back to work, and Vanessa didn’t stare after him wistfully.
Not at all.
Chapter Sixteen
Paul moved histruck to the day use area of the campground to make room for Kyle.
As he parked in the pay lot, and bought a ticket from the kiosk, he noticed Emily’s lemonade stand doing brisk business on the busy corner at the campground entrance.He’d promised to stop by before his brother arrived from Houston.He was about to head that direction when his phone buzzed with a text.
His brother was already here.
Paul turned and walked toward the cabin, excited to see his brother despite the circumstances, which were less than ideal.He strode the short distance to the cabin and found Kyle standing by his Mercedes.They shared a one-armed hug with the requisite back-slapping and warm greetings.
