Page 78 of The Wish List
It was a preposterous notion, but she believed in her heart that nothing could harm her when Declan was around.
Which made it even more difficult to know he wasn’t going to stay.
“What happened?” he asked, searching her face as he stood in front of her.
She shook her head. How could she explain that something so positive made her feel like her future had transformed into a puff of smoke, vanishing out of her grasp?
“My mom is...” She sniffed and dashed a hand over her cheek, refusing to cry about this. “She’s better.”
He continued to stare at her, his gaze unreadable. His lack of reaction—and more importantly, judgment—gave her the courage to continue.
“Something happened, and so many of the deficits caused by the stroke have been lessened, maybe even eliminated. She appears to be back to her old self.” She forced a brittle smile. “It’s a good thing. Everyone will be so glad. Shauna and the boys will—”
“What happened to you?” he clarified.
Beth drew in a shaky mouthful of air. “She wants me to go on the book tour with her. She talked to Greg, who spoke with my supervisor at the hospital. I had planned to...” Beth swallowed, realizing she’d never discussed her plans for school with Declan. “It doesn’t matter what I had planned. My mom needs me.”
“Give me five seconds. Don’t move.” Declan stalked across the empty bar. “Bill, I’m heading out,” he called. Although Beth couldn’t see the bar’s owner, he shouted an answer from the back of the bar.
Declan grabbed a canvas jacket from a hook near the door to the office and returned to her.
“You don’t have to leave work,” she told him as he approached. “I don’t want to get you in trouble.”
“You aren’t getting me in trouble for leaving the bar.” He sounded amused. “Let’s go.”
She nearly sighed when he pressed a gentle hand to the small of her back, just below the waistband of her dark jeans. They emerged from the relatively dim light of the bar into the bright winter sunshine and the bustle of downtown holiday traffic.
Beth hadn’t noticed the crowds earlier, but now it felt like the happy shoppers, locals and visitors, were gaping at her like they could see that she was a horrible person for her conflicting feelings about her mom’s recovery.
Declan might not have reacted either way, but he didn’t need to say it explicitly for her to trust he wouldn’t judge her.
“My truck is across the street,” he said, taking her hand as he led her past her parked car.
She didn’t argue. Without knowing it, he was giving her what she wanted and needed. A break from thinking.
Beth spent so much of her life being responsible and in control. It felt good to be able to relinquish it to someone else.
His thumb traced circles against the center of her palm, but he didn’t speak or ask her questions or try to parse out her feelings about the situation with her mother.
She wasn’t sure if she could have answered without bursting into tears, and maybe he understood that.
Declan, with his brooding stare and unrelenting lack of faith in himself, understood her in the way she needed.
He opened the passenger side door then moved around the front of the truck to climb into the driver’s side.
“It smells like clean laundry.” She glanced around at the dark interior of the truck’s cab.
He smirked. “Shauna made me put an air freshener in here—said the combination scent of twin boys and bar wasn’t doing it.”
“She’s a good friend,” Beth murmured. “You’ll miss her and the boys when you leave.”
He opened his mouth as if to answer then shook his head. “How do you feel about the beach?”
“I like it, although I rarely have time for sunbathing.”
“Would you believe it’s one of my new favorite places?”
She wondered if he understood how well he did at distracting her from her worries. “You don’t exactly give off sun-kissed vibes, and the shore isn’t popular this time of year.”
