And he didn’t want to fail again.
“It’s all right,” Cody said. “We spent all day at the hospital. Let Zane take it over, and we’ll see her tomorrow.”
“I’ll text her and let her know that you’re dropping the things off,” Marlowesaid.
“Thanks.”
“Oh, and can you invite her to come eat on Friday? That might give her a little bit of time to rest, but then we can cook a meal for her.”
He nodded as he left, laden with all the supplies, and he got a text from Cody with her address a few moments later.
He entered it into the map on his phone and zoomed in on it. It was a quiet little residential street. The exact sort of place she ought to live. Not in the newest part of town. But that seemed to suit her too.
There was something a little bit old-fashioned about her. Though he couldn’t put his finger on it.
He started his truck and started to drive out toward the main highway.
It wasn’t just that she wore dresses all the time, or that she baked. It was something indefinable.
Fuck. She was ten years younger than him.
Way too many years.
But it wasn’t just the years. Some people liked to say that age was just a number to justify their interest in someone much younger than themselves. If Zane were to say it, it would be to amplify that gulf between them. Age was just a number, and in his heart, he was a century old at least. He had no business being interested in somebody like Cara.
This little mixed-up, contradictory person, who seemed old-fashioned, older than her years, and absolutely her age all at once.
He pulled onto the street the map guided him to, and parked up against the curb. He saw the curtain in the window twitch, then go still.
He opened up the door, reached in and grabbed his items, then slammed the door shut and walked up the little pathway to the front door.
She had little round stones that led from the sidewalk to the porch, and on the porch, there were wind chimes, andthere was a toad sitting next to a mushroom by the door. She had a chair off to the left of the door, with a pink lace cover.
The curtains, which had twitched upon his arrival, were also lace.
He lifted his hand to knock, and she opened it. “Thank you,” she said.
She was on crutches, and that made him feel something strange in the center of his chest. He didn’t have a name for it. It wasn’t really pain. But it was uncomfortable. He couldn’t say that he liked it.
“You’re welcome.”
She stuck her arms out, like she was going to take all those things from him while maneuvering on the crutches.
“Don’t be silly. I’ll bring it all inside.”
She looked around wildly, like she didn’t quite know what to say. “Cara,” he said. “I’m not going to burn your house down if you let me in.”
“That sounds like something the Big Bad Wolf would say,” she said, looking up at him with those large, beautiful eyes.
“The Big Bad Wolf?”
“You have that vibe.”
“What big teeth I have,” he said.
The better to eat you with.
But he did not say that second part, and instead, as soon as she moved away from the door, he pushed in past her and walked into the kitchen.
