AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Ten minutes later she got a reply.Waiting for the bus.I’ll be there in about half an hour.
Sharing a meal with him wasn’t part of their rent agreement, but she felt like at least offering something to him that night. Maybe they’d talk during dinner, rehash the previous weekend that had started out with so much promise and then fizzled out into oblivion.
Then like a smack in the face with the wet dishrag she had in her hand, it occurred to her that Ryan Albright wasn’t into her. She’d pursued him from the beginning. He’d never made a move except asking her to dinner the previous weekend. Feeling a little like a jerk, the reminder immediately calmed her down. Once again, she was having expectations that were unrealistic. Like her dad had said, the man’s plate was full.
A tap at the door and then the sound of a key manipulating the lock signaled he was home. Out of courtesy, he always knocked before inserting the key.
“Hey. How was your day?” she asked, watching him coming through the door.
“Another day at the Depot,” he said. “I’m chomping at the bit to start my new life.”
“Here’s your letter,” she said, handing the envelope over.
Opening it, he silently read and then smiled at Sofia. “Well, it’s good news. Everything’s in order. I’ll start Monday. They’ll communicate with the medical board. Taking the class shows my intent to succeed and put my all into the process.”
“That’s great. We can talk more if you want to eat with me. I made enough.”
“Do I have time to hop in the shower?”
“Sure. Take your time.”
“I’ll be right out.”
She finished preparing the meal, chicken and peppers on rice, and was cleaning up when he came out again.
“I appreciate this,” he said. “Can I help?”
“No, Ryan. It’s all ready.”
“I appreciate all you’ve done for me.”
“It wasn’t anything,” she said, getting anxious. “But I do need to talk to you.”
“Okay, talk away,” he said, sitting down at the table. “I’m all ears.”
She stood over him, dishing out food onto his plate. “I’m probably making more of it than is necessary. But I saw the return address, and the medical director of your program is my late boyfriend’s father.”
Frowning, he shook his head a little bit, a habit she’d noted before that he did like he was trying to clear away confusion. She wondered if it helped.
“Let me get the envelope,” he said, getting up from the table and squeezing by her.
He was back in seconds. “Benjamin Hartford?”
“That’s him.”
“What’s your relationship with him?”
“I don’t have one. They didn’t even have the courtesy to tell me directly that Jake had died. They sent the cops to the house. I never saw them after the funeral.”
“This is so bizarre. First your uncle is the guy who ostensibly threw me out of medicine, and now the guy who holds the keys to let me back in is your ex’s father.”
“Not my ex,” she said softly. “My late. My former. We were going to be married the week before he died.”
Glassy eyed, Ryan stared at the envelope and then looked out the open sliders to the water. “So he might take offense to you inviting me to live in your house.”
“I don’t think that at all. Doyouthink that might be a problem? Why would they care where you live? And how would he even know?”
“I’m not sure. Like you, I’m probably making more out of this than is necessary. I’m so close after years of living in a vacuum. I don’t want to mess anything up.”
