Page 175 of From Rivals to I Do

"You want me to call somebody for you? Your friend that brought Charlie in?" Abel asked, and she shook her head.

"Nobody to call. My friend works the night shift, and there's just nobody to call. So I'm going to have to walk."

She turned, and he stepped in front of her. "Whoa, wait a second. How far do you live?"

"Not far. I'm just a few minutes away. It's no big deal. I've done it before."

He frowned. "Yeah, I'm not about to let you walk alone. In fact," He reached for Charlie, and she shrank back from him.

"Oh, not on your life."

He sighed. "Holding a forty-pound kid is going to kill your back. Come on. I'll carry him."

Her eyes seemed to bounce over his face in mild confusion, and she could not respond. Abel sighed. "I'm not going to hurt him. Or you. Come on. It's cold out here."

Camilla looked him over in another moment of hesitation before finally handing Charlie over to him. Abel draped him over one shoulder effortlessly, then asked, "Which way?"

"This way." Camilla started walking, and Abel walked next to her, mentally noting that she lived in the opposite direction he did.

"You don't have to do this," she said as they walked.

"I know," he responded.

"You know?" She didn't say it like a question, exactly. More repeating after him.

"Mm-hmm."

She glanced up at him with wonder. "So, you're just doing this out of the kindness of your heart?"

He looked down at her briefly. "You say that like no one ever does anything just out of kindness."

She did not say anything for a moment. Then she said, "I didn't expect it from you. No offense."

"None taken. I guess it's hard to believe an ex-con can be kind."

She looked up at him, her face flushing a little, but did not respond.

"It's okay," he said. "I get it. You don't know anything about me. I could be a serial killer."

She snorted a little laugh. "You'd still be in jail if you were a serial killer."

"Touché."

They walked in silence for a moment. Then Camilla said, "I like to believe that there is something good in everyone. Even Ex-cons."

He frowned a little, trying to wrap his head around the statement. "So, if I'd just walked in and asked for a job without the benefit of my brother, would you have given it to me?"

"I'd like to think I would." She paused, looking at him with shame behind her blue eyes. "I am not perfect, though. I can be just as judgmental as anyone else."

"You don't say," he said with a smirk. Camilla gave him a sore look, then looked away and smiled.

"Okay, I've been a little hard on you. Do you blame me? You did not have any experience entering through the door."

"I have been in jail for ten years," he said. "Not a lot of pizza-making opportunities."

"Still. I had to be sure you did the job right. It's important to me that it’s done right. Regardless of where you came from or who you are."

Abel nodded, taking in what she was saying. Despite her micromanaging tendencies, he realized it was not an unfair expectation.

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