Page 35 of Full Throttle

“No.”

“Me either.” She held out her hand. “How about a burger at Zeke’s?”

I let her pull me from the sofa. “Sounds good.”

We walked to Zeke’s, enjoyed a burger, not talking much, but I felt more relaxed than I had all day. I told her about sharing my story with Charly, Maxx, Chase, and Stefano and their reaction. She’d been pleased I had done so.

“They’re your friends, Dom. Of course they would understand and want to be there for you.”

“I guess I’m not used to that.”

“You must have other friends who care about you.”

“I do. But since Roxanne and Josh, I tend to hold myself back a bit. I have lots of acquaintances. People I’m friendly with. But I don’t let them in.”

“But I see how you give of yourself in a friendship.”

I chewed my burger, thinking. “This crew is different. They’re a family, and they brought me into their fold.” I met her eyes. “And you blew my doors wide open, Cherry G. You make me want to stay. Be part of that family—as long as you’re there with me.”

Her eyes widened, and her smile broke out. It was my favorite of all her smiles. Wide, happy, and a little shy. Pleased. Her eyes crinkled, and a little dimple appeared by the left one. Tiny, hardly noticeable unless you were looking.

And I was always looking.

“I want that.”

“Good.”

We walked home, enjoying the fresh air and empty streets.

“It’s so nice here,” she observed. “So much quieter than Toronto. Even at night, I hear traffic.”

“You ever thought of leaving Toronto?”

“That’s where my job is.”

“People in Lomand and other little towns have hair too.”

She laughed. “It’s harder to find a job at my age. They want younger, less-experienced staff to train. I have thought about it—I even looked into getting a job closer to Hannah. So far, no luck.” She sighed. “And I’ll admit, there are times I wonder if I should do something else. It gets harder to be on my feet all day. And my shoulders and hands ache more than they used to.”

“What would you do?” I asked, curious.

She shrugged. “I ran my own business. I know paperwork, inventory, all sorts of things. I could manage an office, work for a business, do bookkeeping or other things. But again, no one is hiring people my age.” She stopped. “Oh, look at that pretty house!”

I followed her gaze to the two-story house. Large and rambling, it had ivy growing up one side and a large bay window. A fence surrounded the huge yard, and it had a double-car garage.

“Nice,” I agreed, studying the lines.

“It’s the sort of house I used to dream of,” she mused. “Not many like that in Toronto unless you’re a millionaire.”

“You want a house?”

She shrugged. “I can’t afford one. And I wouldn’t want all that space on my own. I would love a garden and a porch to sit on, but I can come and live vicariously through Hannah.”

I smiled and stored that little bit of information away for later. I kept lots of tidbits about Cherry G in my head.

We kept walking, arriving back to my house in a short time. She changed into a T-shirt and shorts I gave her, both too big but looking adorable on her. I turned on the TV, loving how she snuggled beside me on the sofa while we watched the news and caught up on the world. It felt natural to have her with me. After a while, she fell quiet, and her head became heavier on my shoulder. I glanced down, seeing that she had fallen asleep. I wasn’t surprised. She’d worked all day, driven here to see me, and I had kept her up late last night and woken her once in the dark to have her again. She had to be tired.

I shut off the TV and carefully maneuvered her into my arms, carrying her to the bed. I slid her under the blanket and joined her a few moments later. She nestled against me with a sigh, and I relaxed beside her, amazed at how much I liked having her there. Her soft presence was a balm to my soul. I had never experienced such a contented feeling as I did from simply having someone this close.