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Hannah smiled a crooked smile, only a half of which was visible due to the towel she was pressing to the right side of her mouth.
Hope stared at him for a moment.
He shifted his gaze to hers, and they just looked at each other. He couldn’t take the emerald gaze. It was so beautiful, and clear, and messy with the turmoil behind it.
Jordan careened his gaze to the little blonde fireball that still leaned her little palm against his leg, as if it was a column she was leaning against while waiting for the scene to unfold.
“Come on, Naomi; I’ll walk you to the car with your mom,” he said, holding out his hand for her.
Naomi put her hand in his, where it disappeared inside his palm, and he turned to walk down the lane. Hope and Hannah followed. He could feel Hope’s gaze drilling into his back.
“If your hair gets wet, you’ll catch a cold. Do you want my umbrella?” Naomi said when he stopped at the curb before crossing the street.
He looked down at her tiny, round face and smiled. “Thank you, but we’re almost there.”
They crossed to the car, and he folded their umbrellas as Hope helped the girls in.
“You’ll be fine, Hannah. Keep that tooth,” he said. “Bye, Naomi. Be good and help your mom.”
“Bye, Jordan,” they both said; Naomi cheerfully and Hannah in a muffled voice.
He straightened up next to the driver’s side after reaching in to place the umbrellas on the floor of the empty passenger side. Hope stopped next to him. The whole thing had taken three minutes from the moment they had come out of the house.
“Thanks,” she said. The rain droplets fell on her hair and face. They were scattered and looked like tears. He yearned to wipe them for her, to wrap her in his arms and etch her on him.
“Sure. I’ll wait,” he said instead.
“I don’t know, Jordan. It might take time.”
“Okay.”
She gave her head a little shake, as if to banish something out of there, then opened the door and climbed inside.
He closed it after her and waved at the girls as she started the engine and drove away. He just stood there and watched until the blue car disappeared from view.
Only then he crossed the street and went toward the grey rental.
But before going in, he continued walking toward the house but not to the front door. To the garage door that was to its left. He looked at it. The hinge on the left side was broken. He gave the door a push and it moved. It was open.
Going back to his car, he drove to the town’s center, to Harden’s hardware store.
