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"Well, do you want to come in? Looks like your mama left us dinner. Spaghetti."
"Nah, I had some at her house earlier. I need to get to the station and now that I can see you're okay…” He trailed off.
"Why wouldn't I be?"
"I don't know. You know. Just things."
Yeah, she knew. He thought she was still mad about the kiss. He wanted her to forgive him. "I'm fine."
His blue eyes met hers and something passed between them, reminding her she was a liar. She wasn't fine. Things weren't the same.
Two kisses had changed everything.
"Okay, then. I'll miss you tonight."
That should have sounded the way it sounded anytime Eva switched a shift and Jake bitched and moaned about having to put up with Dutch's snoring and blistering farts.
Don't leave me with Dutch. I'll miss you.
But this time it sounded intimate. So weird.
"Don't worry, Dutch will keep you warm. His wife always cooks red beans and rice on the second Sunday of the month," Eva joked, trying to regain their easy camaraderie. Trying to go backward had become a habit. But she had to try.
Jake made a face. "I'm letting him sleep in your room."
"Don't you dare," Eva said.
"Wait, is he your boyfriend?" Charlie asked, pointing to Jake.
"No!" they both said in unison.
Charlie looked from her to Jake and then back to her. ''Can I go watch TV?"
"Sure, the remote's on the coffee table," Eva said, nudging the door open with her foot. Charlie slipped inside.
"I gotta run," Jake said, his eyes sliding away, something in his expression bordering on embarrassment. It was a characteristic rarely seen in the overconfident man.
"Okay."
Jake started toward his truck but then turned. "Hey, E."
She lifted her eyebrows.
"I want to help you. Uh, be there for you. I don't know what's going on in your life, with Charlie and all, but you're my friend."
"I know I am."
"You'll always be my friend, even when you're pissed at me or things are weird. Okay?"
''Okay."
"So what can I do?"
Eva hadn't a clue. At this point with a damaged Charlie under her care and the whole attraction thing for Jake busted wide open, she wasn't sure she needed Jake around. "I don't know."
"Just give me something, anything I can do to make up for the jackass I've been."
"You don' t have to do anything. All that... strange stuff between us was just temporary insanity. We're good. You don't owe me anything."
