Page 43 of Home With You

"I don't want some other girl," I say to Gladys. "Tell me what I can do to help Raine. To help her with whatever she's struggling with. I want to help her but she won't let me. Tell me what to do."

The humming stops and Gladys' eyes open. "Let her be."

"But what does that mean? You told me to be friends with her but now you're telling me not to?"

"Take her to dinner." She turns her head and smiles. "You look lovely, dear."

I look over and see Raine coming toward us, a big smile on her face as she points to her t-shirt. "It fits."

Gladys nods. "It's very nice."

"I borrowed it. Just for tonight."

I stand up. "It's yours. I'm not taking it back." I smile at her. The shirt fits her perfectly, clinging to her perky breasts and skimming down to her narrow waist. Her face is clean and bright like she just washed it, and her long dark hair has been brushed smooth and straight.

"Looks great on you," I say.

"Thanks." She glances down at that simple t-shirt like it's the best thing in the world. It makes me wonder how long it's been since she's had something new that was just hers. The stuff I gave her last night she gave to Gladys, so although they share it, she doesn't consider it hers. But that shirt I gave her is something just for her.

Gladys winks at Raine. "Have fun tonight."

"We're just going to dinner. We won't be out late." Raine crouches down next to Gladys. "Are you sure you'll be okay?"

"I'll be fine, dear." She pats her hand.

"I told Shelly to come out and check on you. She'll probably forget but if you need her, just go inside, okay?"

Gladys smiles and nods.

Raine stands up. "Okay, well, I guess we'll go."

She seems nervous, and I don't know if it's because she's worried about Gladys or worried about going out with me. I want to put my arm around her or hold her hand and tell her everything's going to be okay, but I'm afraid doing that would make her uncomfortable and that's the last thing I want. I feel like if I do or say the wrong thing she'll run off and never agree to see me again.

Part of me is wondering why I'm even doing this. Why I'm pursuing a homeless girl and former drug addict when, like Gladys said, I could easily find someone else, like that girl who works at my office. I saw her when I was leaving today and she asked if I wanted to get a drink. I told her I already had plans. She's made it clear she wants to go out with me, and I would if I'd never met Raine.

Why can't I get her out of my head? Why do I like her so much?

It doesn't make logical sense but the heart never does. It does what it wants. And it wants Raine.

10

Raine

This feels like a dream, but a very strange dream. I just had dinner with an extremely hot lawyer who's also funny and charming and who I'm very attracted to and yet I can't date him. I shouldn't even be having dinner with him. So it's really not a dream at all. It's more like a sick, cruel joke I'm playing on myself, letting myself believe I could have this, but knowing I can't.

Why am I doing this? Why am I here? Why did I agree to this?

"I had a great time," Miles says, and then he smiles, and that right there is how I got sucked into doing this. He has the kindest, sweetest, hottest smile. It melts your heart and panties all at once. It's his secret weapon and it's not fair because every time I see it, I can't resist it. He must know this because he smiles all the damn time.

"Yeah, it was fun," I say, casually, like it's something I do every day. The truth is I haven't eaten out since that night. The night Rob took me out, pretending everything was fine, pretending he wasn’t angry I’d found out. The next morning, I ended up in the hospital.

"Raine, what's wrong?" I feel Miles' hand on mine and look up at him.

"What do you mean?"

"You got all serious all of a sudden. You almost looked scared."

"Sorry." I force out a smile. "I was just thinking about something."

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