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Oh, no.
“Ava?”
Cringing inwardly, I turn around tentatively and force my eyes to meet his.Looking formidable in his Navy workout uniform, he gazes up the steps to me, eyeing the tree in my hands.
No turning back now.
“I, uh… I, um…” My words waffle.“I was going to drop this off.But then I was worried I might wake you up.”Liar.
He looks almost perplexed, and I’m not sure why.Don’t women always show up on his doorstep bearing gifts?
“That’s so nice of you.”
I force a careless shrug.“Oh, it’s nothing.I was just at the grocery store and saw them.My, uh, son really wanted you to have it.”
His eyes widen.“He’s still here?I thought he was being picked up by his dad.”
“Oh, he did leave.I mean, if my sonhadbeen at the store with me, he would have wanted you to have it.”I feel myself crawling deeper and deeper into this hole.“And he kind of… would have… made me get it.If he’d been home.I mean…” Oh God.“It’s the neighborly thing to do.”
I’m overcompensating and I know it.But it’s like my mouth just can’t stop.
“Anyhoooo…” I force a grin and walk down his steps.“Here you go.It was the smallest one they had left.”
He takes it in his grip.“That’s really nice of you,” he says again, seeming somewhat flummoxed by the gesture.“Do you want to come in for coffee?The place is a little messy, but I make a pretty good cup.”
Oh no.Hedoesthink I’m fishing for an invitation to get through his door.
Wait.Am I?
Oh God, I think I am.
“No, no,” I say quickly, hating that somewhere along the line I’ve fallen into the role of the stereotypical desperate divorcée.“You get back to your morning routine.I can tell you were going to go out for a run.”I glance downward to the Navy shirt.The t-shirt seems a little too tight for the pecs that tease me through the polyester.
I’ve seen him running in this uniform before.Probably everyone in the neighborhood has.I should be immune to it.But I’ve never been this close when he’s wearing it.
Back away now, my little voice whispers in my brain.
And I do.I hate to, but I do.
“It’s no trouble,” he says.
“No, really.I just wanted to drop this off.And if you get called away for work, just put it on my porch and I’ll take care of it.I’m pretty good at taking care of plants.”
Againwith the lies!The last three potted plants in my care died within two months.
“Ha.Speak for yourself,” he answers.“Are you sure you don’t want to come in?”
“No, no.”I turn quickly and start trotting up the stairs.“I, uh, I’ve got things I need to get done this morning.”
Like take a cold shower for one thing.
And buy a vibrator for another.
