Page 11 of Oh My Secret Christmas Baby
“Can I help?” she offers.
“I got it. You traveled today. It can take it out of you.”
“It was easy.” She shrugs. “I took a bus, so I read on my Kindle.”
“A bus? Don’t hear that often anymore.” We have one bus stop in this town, and it’s not often the bus ever comes here. A ticket has to have been purchased, or they skip the town altogether.
“I guess I’m a city girl because I never learned to drive.”
“I can teach you,” I find myself offering. Then I could spend more time with her. I don’t want her riding the bus. So many things could happen. Maybe a driver would be best. One with a lot of experience and ready when she needs them.
“Maybe.” She slips into one of the chairs on the opposite side of the kitchen island. I grab a few things out of the fridge.
“I have a few pre-made things.”
“You’re a meal prepper? You’re full of surprises." She laughs.
“Nah, I can cook a few things, but Tyler comes over and preps them. I never know what I’m going to get, but I’m happy to let him try out his skills on me before he takes off for culinary school next year after graduation.”
“You sound like a really good man.”A man that’s been lying to you. I’m digging my own grave now.
“You’re not used to that?”
“I’ve been questioning a few things. It’s kind of why I’m here. I needed to get away.” I pause what I’m doing. Is she taking a break from a man? Was taking this job her way to escape for a while? Lots of thoughts filter through my mind.
“Are you hiding from someone?” I ask, my hackles starting to rise. I hadn’t thought about her having a partner.
I was too consumed with how the hell I was going to dig my way out of the fiancée hole that I created. It never occurred to me that she wasn’t single. I saw her and immediately thought she should be mine.
Did Mom know she was fresh out of a relationship? Was she in love? Did they live together? A million questions I want to ask her hit me, but what I notice most is the jealousy that flares to life inside of me.
That another person played with her hair while they kissed her soft lips. They lay in bed with her, stroking and learning every curve of her body.
I guess I assumed, because if she was mine, there would be no way she’d be walking up a long driveway to a man’s house that she’d never been to. I’d have to be dead. That might not even suffice.
“Hiding is a strong word.” It’s not, but I keep that to myself, not wanting to spook her from telling me more. “The space isletting me clear my head. You know when you’re in the middle of something, sometimes you can’t see things clearly.”
“It happens to the best of us.” People get used to others' behaviors and start to accept them as normal when they are not. It can be a slow build. So slow a lot don’t notice it happening.
“I’m feeling kind of stupid.” Her mouth turns downward, and I don’t like it.
“Why don’t you lay it on me?” There’s no way I’m going to be able to sleep at night, knowing something is bothering her. I shouldn’t care, but now it’s the only thing I can think about.
“I don’t know.” She nibbles on her bottom lip, and I know she wants to talk about it.
“My scars.” I start opening up about myself. If I want her to share, I’ll have to do the same. Never in my life have I felt the need to explain how I got them, but I find I want her to know. “I was in a car accident. Went right off the side of a cliff. I shouldn’t have lived.”
“Oh my gosh.” She puts a hand to her chest. I keep going, enjoying her attention on me even if it’s a topic I don’t care to talk about.
"I don’t usually discuss this, and I lack solid proof since the evidence was destroyed in the fire, but I suspect that someone tampered with my brakes. That’s one of the last things I remember before I crawled out, barely escaping the flames." I slammed on the brakes over and over, but it did nothing. The car wasn’t over a few months old.
“You think a person tried to kill you?” I know it seems farfetched.
“It lingers in the back of my mind.”
“That’s terrible.” She nibbles on her bottom lip again. I’m starting to think it’s a tell for her that she has more to say but is stopping herself.
“You can ask questions.”
