AllFreeNovel
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“No…obviously not. Uh, come in.”
She opens the door and lets me inside. I shake off my jacket, which has flakes of snow on it, and hang it over the back of one of her kitchen chairs. “Where is everyone?”
“Pearl took Otto for his dialysis,” Kenzi says. “And I’m…doing laundry…”
The way she says it, her voice sounds a million miles away. I can see why cleaning up is a task. There’s a dauntingly large pile of clothes on the couch.
“You need a hand?”
She bites her bottom lip. “Yeah. Sure.”
I scoop up a pile of folded shirts and help her carry it into her bedroom. The house is a bit of a disaster zone, but that’s what kids do. They shake everything around. Still, Kenzi seems distracted, and she rapidly tries to pick up a little, kicking toys into corners and cleaning off the counter space. When we get into her room, immediately, she swipes a pile of dirty clothes off the floor and shoves them into the bathroom.
“I’m sorry,” she says, “the house isn’t always like this.”
“I like it how it is,” I tell her.
She rolls her eyes and closes the bathroom door. “Aren’t you supposed to be at work?”
“I’m taking the day off.” If you say it enough times, it must be true. Slowly, I set her folded clothes down on top of her dresser. “Actually, there was something I wanted to run by you…”
“I’m all ears.”
“So my parents are having this family dinner thing on Friday. I want you to come.”
Her eyebrows hike up her forehead. “What…like…with your family?”
“Exactly like that.”
“Will Mr. King be there?”
“He is my dad. So. Yes.”
“No, I know. Of course. I just…” She rakes her fingers through her hair, looking distracted again. “I’ll have to see. Everything is so busy lately. With Otto doing dialysis, I really don’t want to leave him alone for long periods of time…”
“It’ll just be dinner. We can bring you back before your pumpkin rots.” I sit on the edge of her bed so I can better look up at her. “Unless there’s something else on your mind…”
I can’t get over the way her lips thin when she concentrates—she always looks angry when she’s focused, which should not be as charming as it is.
My heart cracks open, and there’s nothing I want to do more than scoop her up in my arms and feel the soft warmth of her against me.
Fuck. I’m such a sucker.
Finally, she drops her arms and says, “It just seems…like a girlfriend activity.”
“I guess.”
“And I think things are good as they are right now, you know? Without putting labels on them.”
She won’t look me in the eyes when she speaks, though. Inwardly, I feel a pinch of fear.
We’re in two different places. I want to move forward. And she wants things to stay exactly where they are. Eventually, this is going to be a problem, and the knowledge is enough to make me start to panic.
I try to see things her way. I try to meet her halfway. “You can come as a friend, then. No pressure.”
Those vibrant green eyes connect with mine. She hesitates, then steps forward close to me. “Look…I lived alone for a really long time. For years, it was just me and Otto. What you’re offering is really sweet, and I want to be open to it. But the truth is, I liked it. I like doing things on my own. I want to do my own laundry and open my own doors and…well…”
“And…?”
