She takes a deep breath and blows it out slowly. “Yeah, but I can’t even begin to thank you for everything you’ve done for me and Lane tonight.” She claps her hands together as if she’s figuring something out. “Let me pay you for your time. I know this was a lot, and you missed out on your appointments tonight and really... you went above and beyond what most people would have done. How much do I owe you?”
She’s rambling again, and I’m starting to realize she does that when she’s nervous. I try not to get offended, but even I can hear the frustration in my voice. “I’m not taking your money.”
She blinks. “But...”
I walk over to her and don’t stop until we’re standing inches apart. I put my hands on her shoulders, and she lifts her head to look up at me. I want nothing more than to kiss her, but I don’t. “Answer me. Are you okay?”
She’s staring at me, not blinking, and I can see the emotion fill her face. She’s fighting it, but one sob breaks free, and then I don’t even hesitate in circling my arms around her. I hold her tightly against me, and her body shakes as she cries in my arms. Her arms go around my waist, and I hold her tight, wishing I could take all the pain away. She’s been through a lot tonight.
I don’t loosen my hold until she starts to pull away, and even then I only let her move a little. I keep my arms around her and wait for her to say something.
“This is crazy. I’m so sorry, I don’t usually react that way.” She rubs her hand on my chest, across the wet part of my T-shirt. “I’ve got your shirt wet.”
I shrug. “It will dry.”
She laughs then. “Trey, what are you doing?” Before I can answer, she holds her hand up to my chest to stop me. “No, don’t answer that. Thank you so much for all you did tonight. I’m not even going to question why you did it. I’m just going to be thankful that you didn’t run away screaming. And no, I’m not going to offer to pay you again. I can tell you get all upset with that, so I’ll just stop rambling and say thank you. You don’t know how much it meant to me and Lane to have you here tonight.”
I put my hand over hers and hold it to my chest. I wonder if she can feel the way my heart is beating triple time just from being close to her. Everything I’m feeling right now is a little overwhelming, and there’s a part of me that wants to run and not look back. I don’t do relationships, and well, Katie is definitely a relationship kind of woman. There are so many things I want to ask her right now. Like about what she said earlier about getting a tattoo, and about her relationship with her ex-husband and if she still loves him. I stop my thoughts from going in that direction. That’s definitely not something I need to be asking the first night I meet her. Reluctantly, I release her and step back. “You’re welcome.”
She wraps her arms around her chest and holds herself in a hug, nodding her head.
“Can I have your keys?” I ask her.
Her eyebrows lift. “Keys?”
“Yeah, to your car. I’ll get it over here tomorrow.”
She holds her hand to her chest, shaking her head. “How could I have forgotten about my car? No, I’ll get someone to bring me to get it tomorrow, it’s no big deal. I can’t ask you...”
“You’re not asking. Keys please?” I ask with a harsher tone than I should probably be using, but hearing her say she’s going to call someone else has me thinking all kinds of things. For starters, I don’t want her calling anyone else. I want her calling me when she needs things. Just as soon as I think it, I start to walk toward the door and open it, standing in the doorway so the night breeze hits me in the face. All of this is just too much. “May I have your keys please? I don’t do things unless I want to, and I want to do this. Lane’s not going to feel like doing much tomorrow. Just let me do this for you.”
She wants to argue with me, and I can tell she’s not used to asking for help, but thankfully she walks over to her purse and digs in before getting out a set of keys and hands them to me. “Thank you, Trey.”
“You’re welcome, honey. I’ll see you tomorrow.” I barely get the words out and I’m hustling out the door and down to my truck. It’s either get away as fast as I can or stick around and kiss her. Leaving is probably the right thing to do.