Page 36 of Grumpy Sunshine

I tried to volunteer my time when I had it, and I’d heard about One Love, Dallas, through a patient.

“This one,” I said as I turned.“They help veterans around the city find whatever they need.They’re a sister charity to one out of Kilgore that helps vets find jobs, homes, psychiatric help, and anything else a veteran might need in the city.”

He took the piece of paper and smiled.“Aella, honey.This is our charity.”

Aella, honey.

Why did those two words, paired with his voice, make me want to melt?

“Oh.”I smiled.“I was just about to start volunteering.”

His eyes crinkled at the edges.

Was that another smile?

What was happening right now?

“Mercy Spurlock runs the Kilgore, Texas branch.One day while we were visiting, we volunteered our time to help with building a house.We all got to talking, and we liked her mission, so we decided to carry her idea to Dallas.We’ve been running the show, with her in the wings offering input when and where she can, for about ten years now,” he explained.

“Wow,” I breathed.“That’s just, wow.”

“One of our longest standing members, Cakes, runs the show here,” he said.“If you’d like, I can take you to meet him.”

“I’d love that,” she said.“But don’t tell him that I’m the one that donated the money.Because I didn’t.”

“Why?”he asked, looking curious.

“I just don’t like it when people pay attention to me,” I admitted honestly.“It makes me nervous.”

His brows rose.“Is that why you run away every time someone talks to you?”

I snickered.“Kind of.”

He looked like he wanted to know more, but that was one thing I wouldn’t be telling him.

I didn’t want him knowing that my mother brought around all kinds of strangers when I was little, giving me a complex when it came to talking to someone I didn’t know.

He’d just feel sorry for me, and him feeling sorry for me was the last thing that I wanted from him.

He knocked on the table and stood up, invading my personal space.

He ran his fingers through my still-wet hair, then said, “I’ll see you at work tomorrow, Aella.”

“O-okay,” I stuttered.

“And Aella?”he asked when he reached the door.

“Yeah?”

“You need to get a better door.This one sucks.”

Heart pounding, I watched him walk out the door and close it without another word.

He wasn’t telling me anything I didn’t already know.

But unfortunately, I didn’t have the kind of spare cash that I could just throw at a new door.

Let alone a dead bolt that worked.

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