Page 21 of Spar
Tori and Chris managed to carry a normal — or at least, polite — conversation at dinner with their hosts. Autumn was a nice buffer, chattering happily and leading the discussion through the random topics as picked by a six-year-old.
Tori tried to keep her eyes downcast and away from Chris as he sat across from her, heartily eating the spaghetti as if he hadn’t had a decent meal in ages. Tori fought the domestic creature hidden inside as she let her mind wander to cooking and caring for this man. What would it be like to have him come home from work every day and sit across from her, like so, eating and chatting happily about his day? The idea filled her with more happiness than she cared to explore at the moment.
She had prided herself on being an independent woman who preferred working and providing for herself to sitting at home waiting on a man. Perhaps there was some compromise to be made in the two extremes.
“Dinner was delicious, Susan.” Dax leaned down from behind his wife’s chair and kissed her chastely on the mouth.
Autumn giggled as she watched her parents. They were so obviously still in love — even Autumn knew it although probably had no concept of what it meant.
Tori looked away as she caught Chris watching her. His mouth was drawn tight and his eyes narrow. Tori blushed and looked from Chris back to her spaghetti. What was it about seeing Dax and Susan so deliriously happy that it made her yearn for that, too? These two, in particular, had something that felt fun and playful.
“Alright, Chris. Ready to get started?” Dax asked.
Chris looked to Tori, winked, and stood to join Dax. “Let’s do this.”
Achill hungin the evening air, but Tori’s cheeks were warm as she watched the builders. Chris wore a leather toolbelt slung low on his hips, and she could not look away. In all the years she had known him, she’d never seen him at work, and the sight of Chris sweating and using his hands to build a playset for a little girl was doing funny things to her heart and making her body tingle with desire. She wanted him. There. She’d admitted it. Wasn’t that the first step in acknowledging she had a problem?
The men were making quick work out of a project that looked complicated to Tori. They built a frame for swings with metal hooks, followed by a platform that had an attached yellow slide.
Susan sat beside her on the back deck. She followed Tori’s gaze to Chris. “So, you and Chris?”
Tori shook her head. “No, it’s not like that.”
“I admit it’s been a long time for me. I married Dax right out of high school— gosh, almost fifteen years ago — but I’m not blind. The way the two of you look at each other… There’s something there.”
Tori shrugged and pulled her knees to her chest. She didn’t know how to respond to that. Yes, there was something there. Or there had been, but now too much hurt and anger filled its place. Could she forgive him and move past it?
“Guys like Chris don’t come around that often. That much I remember from being single. The way he swooped in and took care of you when you needed a place to stay… That was romantic. He even had Dax moving stuff in the snowstorm just so you’d have all your things at his house.”
Tori shot Susan a questioning glance. He’d moved her things?
Susan smiled. “You didn’t know?” She nodded. “Oh yeah, he had everything from your apartment brought to his house.”
“I can’t believe that—”
Susan waved one hand through the air. “Before you get angry, let me offer you some advice. When it comes to men and grand gestures — especially men like Chris and Dax — they sometimes come off as overbearing. He meant well, and it’s sweet when you take a step back and think about why he did it. He wanted to take care of you.”
“I don’t need to be taken care of.” Tori glared at Chris across the lawn. How dare he? He had no right. She didn’t need him taking care of her.
“You insufferable, pig-headedman!” Tori said as she stomped into the house. That she was insulting him while he was holding the door open for her wasn’t lost on him.
“What’s the problem? You needed your stuff. I took care of it.”
“I don’t need you to take care of anything for me,” Tori said, turning to face him.
She looked beautiful standing in the dim living room, with only the light of the moon and stars streaming in through the picture windows.
“Why is the idea of me doing something nice for you so terrible?” Chris asked.
Tori threw her hands up in the air in exaggerated frustration. “Because it’syou. There. Are you happy?”
Chris knew the meaning behind her vague response, but it was time they confronted the ghosts of their past. “What did I do that was so terrible? Why have you been hating me ever since—”
“Ever since you slept with me and then ran off as fast as you could the next morning?” Tori said with hurt and anger in her eyes.
Chris watched her closely, trying to remember the night and make sense of her accusation.
“That’s not how I remember it.Youall but kickedmeout.”
