Page 67 of Where Are You Now
She walked over to him. “Hey.”
He smiled down at her. “You following me to my place of work?” he teased.
“I had therapy.”
“How was it?”
“Grueling. I’m tired and want to relax by the lake for the rest of the day. Wanna join me? There’ll be pumpkin pie …”
“I get off at six.”
“That’s a long time to make me wait for Mom’s pumpkin pie, but I’ll do it for you.”
“I’ll come straight there then.”
A doting sparkle glimmered in his eye, making her stomach do a flip. Gosh, she loved that look. She pushed away the feeling. It was due to the pie and not her, she told herself.
“Great. See you this evening,” she said, trying to hide her elation.
“See ya.”
Ava nearly floated back to her car. Lucas had always been able to do that to her. They had an undefined bond that was different from what she had with anyone else in her life. The feeling had been there as long as she could remember. There were lots of kids around her and in her school—what had made her gravitate to him? Whatever it was hadn’t diminished in all these years. She’d just forgotten for a while how great he’d made her feel.
But she needed to get her thoughts in check. They were in the friend zone only.
That evening,after cutting the rest of the fabric squares for her mother, Ava lay on the sofa across from a fire, trying to rest her sore muscles, when the doorbell rang.
“I’ll get it,” Martha called. Her mother answered the door and, in the distance, said, “She’s in the living room.”
Lucas walked in and sat on the edge of the sofa as Ava tried to push her tender body into a sitting position.
“You don’t have to get up,” he said.
“I probably should. My muscles are getting stiff from resting too long.”
He offered her a hand, and she used his strength to pull herself to a sitting position, her torso aching.
“What good is therapy if it’s going to make me feel so sore?” she asked, flinching with every movement. “I didn’t even feel this bad climbing a tree.”
“I made us cider,” her mother said from the doorway. “I’ll get us all a mugful, and then I probably need to check my email. That lady from the craft show has a question. I should get back to her today to see what it is.”
“Thanks, Mom,” Ava said. When her mother had left the room, Ava addressed Lucas. She pinched her shoulder in an attempt to ease her discomfort. “I swear, the therapy made me worse.”
“Turn your back toward me,” Lucas said. “Let me see if there’s anything wrong.”
Ava twisted around as he’d directed, and he moved her hair over the front of her shoulder.
“Have you noticed any swelling anywhere?” He laid his hands on the tops of her shoulders.
She swallowed. “No.”
He moved his hands softly along her outer arms in almost a caress and then down her spine and up her neck, causing goose bumps to rise on her skin. His touch had a magical way of releasing the pain.
“Your joints haven’t been used extensively in this way. The soreness should only last a day or two, but if it continues after that, call me, and I’ll get you set up with the orthopedist.”
He put his hands on her neck and began to massage her muscles, offering instant relief to her pinched nerve. While he was only doing a doctorly thing, the massage felt quite different under his touch than it had under Kim’s.
Ava closed her eyes. “Oh, my gosh, that feels amazing.”
