Page 6 of Ebbing Tides
But more than all that, there was something there. Something in her eyes …
Something so …
Familiar.
“Max, under different circumstances, it would probably be very nice to meet you, but I am …God, I amsocold.”
Her silvery puffs of breath were illuminated by the truck’s headlights, as if to punctuate just how cold she was. I smiled and nudged my head toward the cab.
“Hop in. I’ll give you a ride.”
“Bless you.”
I led her to the passenger side and opened the door. “Lido, back seat,” I commanded, and he cocked his head with curiosity at the sight of our new friend. Otherwise, he didn’t budge. “Lido, back seat.”
Behind me, Chuck’s sister-in-law sniffed a laugh. “He’s a good listener,” she assessed quietly, sarcasm in her voice.
“Don’t let him fool you. He is.”Except, apparently, when trying to impress a pretty woman.
The thought was sudden and unexpected, and I furrowed my brow. What the hell was that? I wasn’t trying to impress her, was I? I knew she was pretty; it would be impossible to ignore that fact. Butimpressher? I had just met her, for crying out loud.
But why do I feel like I’ve seen her before?
“Lido.” The firmness in my tone snapped him out of his trance, and he scurried to the back seat. “Good boy.”
Then I turned to the woman freezing behind me. “Sorry about that. Do you need my help getting in or …”
She was standing so damn close to me that I could smell her perfume permeating the air between us. Her reddish-blonde hair was pulled back, tucked behind her ears and held in place by one of those claw-clip things my sisters had liked back in the day, and her eyes …
Huh.
Her eyes were ringed in red. She had been crying. I furrowed my brow at the question nagging at the tip of my tongue—Are you okay?God, it wasn’t my business if she was okay or not. I didn’t know her. Why would I want to ask?
“I think I can manage. Thanks.”
She smiled, her lips chapped and cracked from the cold. God, this poor woman. How long had she been wandering around this place, trying to find her way back to Chuck’s house?
Then she stepped up and reached for the grab bar by the side of the open door. But her slippers lacked good treading, and she slipped off the step before her hand had a chance to grab the bar. With her hands on either side of the door, she steadied herself and avoided an even more embarrassing mishap, but still, she whined pitifully.
“Oh my God,” she groaned, laying her hands over her face. “Are you kidding me?”
I bit back my chuckle. “Here, let me help.”
She looked over her shoulder as I held out my hand. I offered a sheepish smile, and she sighed with resignation, laying her hand in mine.
She climbed into the cab and grumbled an embarrassed, “Thank you,” her cheeks an even deeper shade of scarlet—a hue that pinged at a corner of my memory, as if calling to something … something far away.
What is it? What am I trying to remember?
I narrowed my eyes at the thought and closed the door in time for Lido to lay his head on her shoulder and slobber a long, wet kiss over her cheek.
Smooth, doofus.I shook my head and huffed a chuckle as I walked around to the driver’s side.
She was scrubbing her trembling hands over his face by the time I climbed in and put the truck in drive.
“You’re his best friend now, you realize,” I told her, rolling slowly through the cemetery toward Chuck’s place up on the hill.
This late at night, you couldn’t be too careful, driving through these winding roads. You never knew when a rabbit was going to hop out of nowhere, so I drove slowly, taking my time.
