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“Okay.”
“I brought you some coffee.” He started to hand her the thermos.
“No, thank you. I don’t drink coffee.”
Since when?
Alanna reached out to take it from him. “I can carry it, though.”
“I can.”
So, she quit drinking coffee. He mentally shrugged. Why did he care? Because he had counted on knowing every one of her likes and dislikes to further getting her comfortable with him. He had waited so long for her. He had hoped being familiar with things she liked would be sort of a shortcut for him.
Silas had done him a favor by stopping him from walking her home. He could have fucked himself over by saying the wrong thing.
Seeking to put her at ease, he started talking. “The sounds you heard were probably raccoons or possums. They come out at night. Don’t worry; they are more afraid of you than you will be of them. Just bang a pot, and they take off.”
“Can they get inside the trailer?”
“No,” he assured her, seeing the worry in her gaze.
Reaching Silas’ house, he held the door open for her. Seeing her hesitation, he stepped back from the door so she wouldn’t have to brush past him. The woman was more skittish than a cat around a pack of dogs.
Going inside, he directed her to the kitchen, letting her go first, keeping a couple of steps behind her.
“Your sister cooked the huge meal we ate yesterday in this kitchen?”
Matthew frowned at her shocked expression. “Yes. Why?”
“Nothing. It’s just smaller than I expected,” she said, looking around the kitchen.
“Silas has been wanting to redo it, but he decided to wait and let who he marries do it the way she wants.”
Alanna gave him amused smile. “He’s dating someone?”
Does she think I was lying yesterday?
“No.”
“He’s waiting for his soul mate, too?”
Matthew could tell she didn’t believe him for a hot second.
Afraid of coming off as creepy, he distracted her by showing her how to refill the coffee machine. “When this light turns red, the machine needs to be cleaned.” After showing her under the counter where the cleaning supplies were for the machine, he then made a new pot before pouring the coffee he had made for her down the drain.
“I didn’t mean for it to go to waste,” she said, noticing what he was doing. “I thought you would drink it.”
“I don’t take creamer and sugar.” Washing the thermos out, he dried it before putting it back in the cabinet.
“How did you know how I used to drink my coffee?”
“Don’t most women drink it with sugar and creamer?” Opening the freezer drawer, he hid his expression as he took out two packs of frozen hamburger meat, which had already been cooked in a large batch then separated out into one-pound serving sizes.
“Silas usually leaves the house at six. The main chore you will be responsible for is to unload the dishwasher, make sure there is enough coffee made for whoever comes over, and start dinner for Silas. If anyone comes here before you, the dishwasher will already be unloaded. It’s a habit we’ve had since we were kids. Each of us takes turns loading the dishwasher the night before, depending who comes by to eat with Silas.”
“The dishwasher was already unloaded. Someone has already been here?”
“I was. We all get a pretty early start. We all come by to get coffee and make sure Fynn hasn’t missed the school bus.”
