She hesitated a beat. I felt her studying me, though I refused to look at her. “In that case, you have some explaining to do,” she said to me. Ripley had calmed down and settled back into the passenger seat.
I lifted my gaze to find her watching me with narrowed eyes, hiding a dimpled smile, as she tapped her foot impatiently. I preferred this to gratitude.
“You were the one trying to get rear-ended. Or worse,” I said.
The clouds broke long enough to shine on Claire, highlighting the bits of darker brown flecks in her eyes, reminiscent of Leopardwood. Her wide, full lips weren’t grinning as they had been last night, flashing those deep dimples. Which was exactly what I had promised myself I didn’t want to see.
“Not about that.” She cut a hand through the air. “That was me being too lazy to go all the way to town. It might have been a little bit reckless. I won’t do it again.”
I couldn’t hide the surprise on my face at her culpability. “Then what do I need to explain? How the flue works in the stove?”
“I—no.”
“Are you sure? Because temps are supposed to drop tonight, and there’s no fire going.” I looked pointedly to where no smoke came out of the chimney pipe.
“Okay, I’ll start a fire when I go to work. Good grief, you’re worse than my father. Why did you lie and say you didn’t have internet?” she blurted before I could say anything else.
I ran my hand over the dash, dusting it. “I said the guesthouse doesn’t.”
Her mouth dropped open. “You have Wi-Fi.” She tilted her head when I didn’t say anything. “You really aren’t going to share the Wi-Fi password?”
“It won’t do you any good down here.” I shrugged.
She sucked in her lips and scrunched her nose in a way I would not find charming.
“Why were you calling your dad on the side of the road? Whatwere you doing?” I asked.
“Wordle,” she said, or at least something that sounded like it. “Oh, don’t make that face,” she said. “You’ve really never heard of the word game that took the world by storm a few years back? We still play against each other every day. Or at least we did. I’m going to lose my streak, but it’s whatever—” She cut herself off abruptly.
“You pulled over to play a game?” I asked skeptically, wondering if she was lying.
“It’s more about the tradition. I know we’re weirdly close. But we’re all we’ve got. Or at least he’s all I’ve got. Now. Besides my career. I’m going to stop talking. I promised I wouldn’t do all that again.”
Shit.
The exact thing that I didn’t want happening was happening. Feelings. Understanding. I felt the guesthouse glaring at me. Tangible judgment poured out of it.
Keeping a young woman from her father. Really, Levi?
“I know most people don’t understand my father and I being so close. Oh, good, I’m still talking. It’s because you’re being stoically nonverbal. It’s very triggering to me.”
I felt the words bubbling up in my throat. A voice in my head screamed at me to shove my fist in my mouth to keep from speaking. The other voice, suspiciously sounding like Pace, cheered me on. I made the mistake of looking at her again, noting her big, sad brown eyes hiding a self-deprecating grimace. She looked so … alone. Or maybe I was projecting. I gripped the steering wheel until it creaked.
“You can use my phone,” I blurted so quickly she startled. My heart was racing like I was chopping wood, palms sweating like racing around the curve of an overpass.
“What?” She wrapped her arms around her middle cautiously, stepping back.
“I have a landline. I never use it. You can use it for your daily weirdle calls.”
One of her dimples popped. I glared just to the left of her head. “Wordle. But no.” She shook her head as my offer settled in. “You have all the rules. And listen, I wasn’t kidding when I said I appreciate a good list of rules. I’m not great at subtext. I like knowing exactly where I stand.”
“Especially when it’s on the side of the road?”
“Look at you with all the jokes,” she deadpanned.
Ripley lifted her head and sniffed. Probably realizing we were close to home, she started doing the potty prance next to me. I had to hurry this along. Especially as because every second that passed, I regretted this offer even more.
“It’s not a big deal.” I turned the truck back on. “I’m gone most of the day anyway. You can use the phone when I leave.”
