AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She wiped her hand across her lips and he wanted her to take it back. Or to kiss her again, to puthimback on her. “Okay. I won’t be weird.”
There was nothing for it. The silence that fell inside that tree house was ten shades of awkward.
“Quick, tell me the thing that’s annoyed you most since I moved in,” she said.
“What?”
“I must do something that drives you crazy.”
She was attempting to lighten the mood, and it worked. “I’ve had to triple the amount of toilet paper I buy.”
Her mouth dropped open. “Excuse me? I have to use it no matter what I’m in there for, you know.”
He laughed. “I know. I guess I just didn’t realize how much faster women go through it. Also, you refold my towels.”
“It’s not my fault you do it wrong.”
“Why don’t you show me the right way, then?”
She shrugged. “Just seems easier to fix it.”
“Every time I wash them?”
“Yep.”
He laughed. “Okay, what about me?”
“You leave dishes in the sink.”
“For like, a day. I do them in the evening.”
“True, but in the morning you just set your coffee cup in there and move on.” She gestured to the right as if she were standing at his sink this very moment. “The dishwasher isright there. You just pivot and put it in there instead of the sink.”
“Could be worse,” he pointed out. “Have you ever seen the state of Graham’s kitchen?”
She shuddered. “No, and I think I’m better off not knowing.”
They climbed down shortly after, though not before Mia peeked through the other side of the tree house at the redbrick home next door. He saw the sadness in her eyes and his own gaze passed over the window that had been her bedroom as a kid.
Her parents had sold the house shortly after the medical bills started rolling in.
They made rounds to say goodbye to everyone, and when they came to his parents, his mom pulled him into a hug. “I’m so proud of you,” she said.
“Thanks, Mom.”
“Nathan would have been so happy,” she continued, tears welling in her eyes again. “He’d have loved to see you and Mia together.”
He stepped away and put his hands in his pockets, suddenly wanting to be anywhere but here. His mother’s words reminded him he’d just kissed the woman he loved, while somewhere in this town his brother’s fiancée was alone, no longer able to kiss the man she loved. A hollow sensation spread through him, as if all his organs had been removed. He was bones and skin, nothing else, in his childhood home without his brother here beside him.
David finally sauntered into Noah’s office a week later. Noah had been expecting him, and quite frankly felt relieved David would finally bring up his accusations. The time that had lapsed since Julia gave her warning had only increased Noah’s concern, which was probably David’s intention.
David left the door open and settled in across from Noah, relaxing casually against the chair. He folded his fingers across his abdomen and smiled.
Noah did his best to appear relaxed despite being wound tighter than a public school budget. “What can I do for you?”
“Julia spoke to you, I presume? I told her not to mention it, but I don’t expect she listened. She always had a soft spot for you.”
Noah wasn’t interested in dancing around the subject. Or talking about Julia. He stood and walked to the door, swinging it shut before resuming his seat. “Why don’t you save us both time and say what you came here to say?”
