AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“There is,” Lonnie said. He looked up at her again; he’d only lifted his head to say hi when she walked in. “I’m glad to know someone else feels the same way as me rather than standing around and talking all the time.”
“Agreed,” she said and got back to work. Jennifer didn’t know what the hell she was talking about. Lonnie was just being friendly like he always was. He felt he could talk to her and not be judged, no more than that.
A few hours later, Faith was walking in the door later than she’d wanted to be.
Fred was barking at her as she hopped around pulling her shoes off and running up the stairs after hanging up her jacket.
Her faithful companion was right on her heels dancing around. “You’re excited because you know Sawyer is coming over, aren’t you?”
Fred barked another time and then jumped up and sat patiently after she lifted her hand in the signal for him to sit.
She pulled out leggings and a sweatshirt, stripped out of her dress pants and button-down shirt, then tossed them in the hamper as she dashed into the bathroom for a quick shower.
She didn’t wash her hair, just soaped up her body and rinsed off, yanked and tugged her clothes on and ran back down the stairs to start dinner with Fred right by her side.
Burgers would be nice and easy and she’d planned it this morning by taking the ground beef out of the freezer. Even if Sawyer hadn’t decided to come to dinner, she was still making them.
Fries went in her air fryer and the burgers would be done in the twenty minutes it took for her fries. Sawyer would be here in less than fifteen by her calculations.
Enough time to have a nice hot meal waiting to be put on the table for him.
Ten minutes later she was flipping the burgers over and pulling out cheese, lettuce and a tomato to cut. Her front door opened and Fred went charging into the living room barking.
“Whoa,” Sawyer said. “It’s only me.”
The protection barking stopped and the playful one joined in. “I should have said it was you, but you got here earlier than I thought.”
“It’s fine,” he said. “He’s only watching out for you. Once he saw it was me, the hair went down on his back.”
“He’s a good dog,” she said, going to Sawyer and kissing him. “Dinner is almost done. I’m sure you’re beat.”
“Do I have time to shower?” he asked. “I feel dirty sitting in the hospital all day and then the car.”
“Go ahead. Dinner will be another five minutes or so. It will hold either way.”
She watched him walk away, the exhaustion on his face more than ever before.
When he came down, she had the dinner at the table for him to make his plate. Fred was eating his with a little burger cut up for her best buddy for being such a good guard dog.
“Thanks,” Sawyer said. “I’m starving.”
“Did you eat today?”
“Lunch,” he said. “And it’s hospital food so not that great though I’ve had worse. I was more concerned about making sure my grandmother ate.”
“And she’s doing well?” she asked. “I mean as well as can be expected?”
“She seems it,” he said. “She’s pretty tough. She’s had to be raising my mother.”
Faith hadn’t wanted to bring this up, but since he did, she asked. “She wasn’t there?”
“Nope,” he said. “She is on vacation. Told my grandmother that it was planned before the surgery and she couldn’t cancel or reschedule.”
“That could be the case,” she said. “But not sure I’d care if it were my parents.”
“My mother doesn’t care about anyone but herself and, to be honest, I’m glad she wasn’t there. I’m not sure I could have sat there all this time with her anyway.”
“Then it worked out the way it should,” she said. “Eat up.”
