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Judging by the anger on his face, I'm guessing seeing me was not a highlight of his day. Great—this is just what I need. It’s bad enough that I’ve never gotten over him. Having to now live in the same town as him is going to be hard—and his obvious displeasure with seeing me is going to make it worse.
After parting ways with Miles in the parking lot, I head for my white Honda Accord Coupe. As I get in and buckle my seatbelt, my cell phone chimes to alert me to a text. Lifting it out of my purse I lift it up to see who it's from. My eyes widen when I see Colin's name on the screen.
Colin: House. 7pm. Tonight.
Well, shit.
3
Elena- Nine Weeks Ago
It’s so foreign to be here in Nanny and Pop’s kitchen without them around. How can it be that they’re both just… gone? I bite my lower lip to keep it from trembling as I finish towel drying the large chafing dish. Earlier this afternoon it held the mountain of chicken cutlets the caterers dropped off when we got back from the cemetery. After setting the plate on the area of countertop I've designated for dry dishes, I turn and pick up the final clean platter from the dish drainer and start swiping across the glazed surface with the dishtowel. A hint of a smile plays on my lips as I conjure up an image of Nanny telling me to let the darn things drip-dry. Naturally, thinking of her gets me emotional. Setting the platter and the towel down, I rub my hands over my face.
I startle when I hear a noise from behind me. Spinning around, I see Colin. His black suit jacket is gone, his gray tie is loose, and his white dress shirt has one button undone. His left shoulder is propped against the door jam, and his right hand is comfortably in his pocket like he’s been in that position for a while.
Although Colin looks tired—or tuckered out, as Pop used to say—it does nothing to diminish how attractive he is.
His gentle smile causes my mouth to go dry. “I told you not to worry about any of this until tomorrow. Why am I not surprised that you didn’t listen?”
I can feel a faint blush spreading across my cheeks as I run a hand over the smoothness of the updo I spent a hell of a lot of time perfecting this morning. "I tried but I just couldn't… Nanny always said that dirty dishes left overnight become the next day's science experiment."
He smiles then, the first one I’ve seen since the day started. No one ever warns you about just how emotionally draining funerals are.
“She pulled that on me too,” he chuckles. “I grew up convinced dirty dishes were the first step to damnation. You know it was just her way of teaching us all to be tidy, right? Science experiments on dishes take more time than a night on the counter.”
I gesture toward the window over the sink that looks out to the guesthouse I once called home. “Since my mom was a slob I know exactly how long it takes for the science experiment to happen,” I sigh. “Without your grandmother to guide me, I’m fairly certain I’d have wound up just like my mother.”
He takes his hand from his pocket and lifts it to the back of his neck and begins to rub at it. “She was a mess,” he agrees. “Pop told me if it weren’t for you, they’d have booted her out within the first three months.”
My brows go up as I lean back against the counter, bracing my hands on the coolness of the granite as I stare at him. "They knew that early on she was like that?"
Colin snorts as he nods. "Couldn't have missed it. Hell, even I knew, and I only caught glimpses. My grandparents…" his voice cracks on the word.
I watch the way his throat moves as he swallows and looks away. He closes his eyes for a second or two, the silence stretching between us before he looks back at me. “They both adored you,” he says. “A mess in a house they didn’t live in was a small price to pay to have you here where they could see you nearly every day.”
My hand goes to my mouth, and I do my best to cover a choked sob as the enormity of his statement hits me. I thought I couldn’t love them any more than I did a minute ago, but I was wrong. I’d give anything right now to hug Nanny and Pop one more time and tell them how much they mean to me. Colin crosses the room to me and puts his arms around me as I try my hardest to hold back my tears.
