Page 107 of The Widower
“Yeah! Isabelle and I went with our eyes closed on the way to school, and on the way back, we kept them open. Cool, right?”
“Very.”
“Where’s Hanna? I wanna tell her!”
“I’ll take him!” Henry jumped in, flashing me that smug look—the one that clearly said I told you so.
“Am I about to get yelled at?” Isabelle asked suddenly. “Because if the answer’s yes, I’d rather get it over with now.”
And then… what was I supposed to say?
What are you going to do, Colin Adams?
That was my own mind mocking me.
For once, I—the man who always had something to say—had no words at all.
Not for the woman who, somehow, was making me feel things I’d sworn I’d never feel again.
“I honestly don’t know.”
That was the best answer I could come up with.
“You don’t know?”
“Yeah. I’m still trying to decide whether I should be happy or upset about what you did. If it had gone wrong, things could’ve gotten complicated—and I mean seriously complicated. We tried something similar before, remember?”
“I’m sorry, Colin,” she said softly.
“No.”
“I figured.” She lowered her head.
“My ‘no’ doesn’t mean I don’t accept your apology. I meant you don’t need to apologize. Thank you for showing him there’s a way to face his fears. That means a lot to me.”
Persistent as she is, Isabelle’s also brave—I’ll give her that. She got Joshua to confront something his own father couldn’t help him with most of the time, weighed down by too many fears of his own.
“If this had been some time ago, I probably would’ve been fired, right?”
“Probably not. You’d already be out the door.”
“So what changed?”
Good question. What did change?
I could’ve told her that I’m changing—or maybe that my feelings for her, and for the people around me, are. But the truth is, I still carry too much anger through most of my days. I don’t know if I’m becoming a better man. What I do know is that Isabelle gets under my skin, and I’m terrible at hiding how drawn I am to her.
“I don’t know.”
“Oh, you do,” she teased, winking.“The real question is—are you gonna tell me or not?”
“No.” I stepped back.
“Don’t bother.Deep down, you like me.Maybe you’re even falling for me.”
Damn it.
If she said that by accident, fine. But if she meant it, then she’s either way too bold or way too confident.
