I shot up so fast my head spun and I nearly toppled backward off the stool. “Yep. Good. All good here. You get what you were looking for?”
He held up a batch of thyme and got busy pulling the rest of the ingredients out of the fridge. He opened cabinets and drawers until he found the utensils he was looking for and got down to work “I gotta tell you, your gardens are impressive. Evan said as much when I picked her up, but seeing them up close for myself... I’d give an arm for an herb and vegetable garden like that.”
For some insane reason, I felt a blush creep up my skin. “Thanks. Yeah, I told Evan I’d teach her about gardening if she was interested. She seemed pretty into it.”
“Hence the plants you gave her.”
“Exactly.” I smiled. “I hoped she liked them.”
He looked up from expertly chopping the thyme. “Are you kidding? She insisted the plants stay overnight at Grandma’s with her because she didn’t trust me to water the tomato this morning.”
I let out a laugh and arched a brow. “Considering where you’re standing right now, her lack of trust might have been warranted.”
“Hey.” He pointed the big Chef’s knife in my direction. “If I’d had my grandplant with me yesterday, I never would have set foot in that bar. I would have been responsible and taken it home for a good night’s rest.”
I finished off my coffee and hummed. “Uh-huh. Sure you would have.”
When I rolled out of bed this morning, I’d half expected things between Nate and me to be awkward. I never in a million years would have thought I’d be drinking coffee and watching a sexy-as-hell man waltz around my kitchen, shirtless, while making me a breakfast that smelled so delicious, I drooled a little bit. It was amazing how things could take such a drastic turn in such a short amount of time. Then again, the easy conversation and quick laughs were what had drawn me to him that first night.
After that job interview, I’d brushed that first encounter off as him being on his best behavior so he could get in my pants. But now I saw the truth. That first night was the real him. Outside circumstances had played a large part in us butting heads the past several weeks, but that first night had been the truth. Which was a huge fucking problem, because I could really start to like this guy.
On that thought, the tinny ring of my cellphone broke through my melancholy. Hopping off the stool, I moved to where I’d dropped my purse on the table near the front door. I pulled it out and felt the nice, happy morning I’d been having come to a screeching halt at the sight of my mom’s name on the screen.
“Everything okay?”
I looked up and offered Nate a smile I hoped didn’t look as brittle as it felt. “Yep. Sure. I have to take this. I’ll be right back.”
* * *
Nate
I waiteduntil she’d gone down the hall and entered another room before following after her. I had no right to listen in on her private conversation. I knew I was crossing a line by eavesdropping. But I also knew whoever was on the other line had taken the sparkle out of her eyes that had been there from the first moment the coffee kicked in.
Yesterday had been the first time in a couple months I’d seen more than just a glimpse of the Luna I met a couple months back. With a truce called and our weapons lowered, we’d both gone back to the people we’d been that first night. That was the Luna I’d gotten this morning as well, the one who talked and teased as she drank coffee and ogled me while I made breakfast.
Then she’d looked at her phone and her face had gone pale. The light in her eyes died, and that smile she’d given me was fake as hell. I defended my actions by telling myself I wasn’t trying to be nosey. I was genuinely concerned.
The door hadn’t shut all the way, and when I stopped, off to the side and out of sight, I saw that it was set up as a home office, probably the very one she’d worked out of when she had her own business.
“Hi, Mom,” she answered after bringing her phone up to her ear. “Hold on, wait. Just slow down. What’s the matter?”
I moved a little closer to get a better view and saw her lower her head and reach up to rub at the space between her eyes as she listened to her mother on the other end of the call. I knew that look well; I’d experienced it more than a handful of times myself. It was exasperation and weariness all rolled into one.
“No. No, I told you, I can’t help you anymore.” She dropped into a cozy looking chair, leaning her head back to stare at the ceiling, as if looking for divine intervention.
“Have you already forgotten our last conversation? The one where I called you asking for help for the first time in my life? No. Yeah. That’s right. And you said you couldn’t afford it.” Another pause. “Well, where’s Dwight? If you need money, ask him, because I don’t have it, Mom.” She let out a laugh so bitter it was painful to hear. “Of course he did. Of course! Because that’s the only time you call me. I don’t exist until your latest boyfriend dumps you, but that’s only so you can leech off me. Then, like clockwork, you meet another guy and forget I exist all over again. Well it’s not happening this time.”
My chest grew frigidly cold as the blood in my veins started to freeze. I’d wondered about the connection Luna had with my girl, but now it made perfect sense. Both of them were part of a sad, fucked-up club in which you had to have a shitty mother to belong.
“No, Mom. No! I’m done! Even if I could help you, I wouldn’t. Consider it returning the favor for all you’ve done for me. Not that any of that matters because I can’t. From now on, you’re going to have to get a job when you’re between boyfriends, because I can’t help you.”
She pulled the phone from her ear and I spun around, moving on silent feet back to the kitchen. I expected her to be in right after me, but one minute ticked into the next, then the next. So while I waited, I worked on breakfast.
Finally, five minutes later, she returned. She stopped at the stool and looked at her coffee mug before turning those cinnamon eyes to me. “You topped off my coffee?”
“Yeah,” I answered casually. “I figured you’re one of those people who doesn’t hit one hundred until you’ve had at least two cups.
She sat back down and lifted the cup. “I am. Thank you.”
“Not a problem.”
I wanted to push. I wanted to ask what was wrong, hoping she’d open up, but I didn’t. I wasn’t sure it was my place. I’d have given my left arm to make her feel better, to put that gleam back in her eyes, but I’d agreed this was just sex, no strings, no complications. She’d been adamant that she didn’t want a relationship.
And something told me if I broke that rule, she’d go running so fast I’d never be able to catch her.