Page 15 of Colton's Second Chance
“But not now, not tonight. I just can’t…” Her voice broke, and she had to catch her breath and shove her runaway emotions back in a box before she could meet his gaze again. “I’m sorry.”
Eli saw the sparkle of tears filling Noelle’s eyes, and pain cleaved his chest. He reached for her hand and pressed it between his. “Not now, then. We’ll find something happier to discuss.”
She pulled her hand from his and used her napkin to dab at her eyes. “I’m sorry. I think my emotions are just raw tonight because of the unpleasantness of my day. And I didn’t sleep well.”
“Don’t apologize. You’ve been dealt a number of emotional blows lately.”Not the least of which being me showing up in your life again.He let the obvious go unstated. “You’re allowed to be on edge.” He paused as their drinks arrived, and he searched for a topic he knew would comfort her. “I saw a cat in a bookstore window the other day that reminded me of your old neighbor Mrs. Hooper’s cranky old cat. What was its name? Whiffles or something.”
Noelle’s expression brightened, and her nose wrinkled as she thought. “It started with a P. Puffy… Puffles—”
“Puffin!”
She snapped her fingers and pointed at him. “Yes. Puffin. It was black and white, and Mrs. Hooper thought it looked like apuffin when she found it on the shoreline.” She chuckled. “And it wasn’t cranky toward me. I think she just didn’t like men.”
“Who? Mrs. Hooper or her cat?” he teased. “Because Mrs. Hooper always gave me the stink eye when I came home with you, too.”
“She was just protective of me. She didn’t want some Lothario taking advantage of me.”
Eli barked a laugh. “She didn’t know you well, then. You were way too confident and smart for anyone to take advantage of you.”
“I appreciated her concern, just the same.” She dropped her gaze, and her voice softened. “It’s nice for someone to care.”
He detected an odd note of despondency in her tone, but rather than quiz her about it, he lifted his glass. “To Mrs. Hooper and Puffin.”
Noelle joined him in the toast, clinking her wineglass to his. “Where is this bookstore? I wasn’t sure how long I’d be in town or how much free time I’d have. I may want to pick up some reading material if the ME delays the funeral much longer.”
“I’ll be sure to point it out on the way home. It’s near your hostel.”
After a short, awkward lull in the conversation, Eli asked Noelle about her life. Did she live near the UW campus? No. She lived in Bellevue now. Was she still in touch with any of her old professors or friends? A few. She still met her mentor, Professor Norris, for coffee from time to time.
“Do you remember Kathleen Block and her boyfriend Tim Allscert?” Noelle asked.
“Sure. We went to the Lady Gaga concert with them. Had weekend barbeques and very competitive volleyball games. Why?”
“I’ve stayed friends with them. They married and had two kids. I went to their daughter’s baptism last month. They…asked about you.”
“Oh.” He smiled and nodded. “What did you say?”
“That we’d lost touch. They’ll be interested to hear we ran into each other this way and caught up.”
He selected a roll from the basket. “I liked them. Tim had a great sense of humor.”
“He still does.”
“That Gaga concert was something else, wasn’t it?”
Noelle smiled and nodded. “The woman has some pipes on her, huh?”
“I particularly liked what we did after the concert.” He peered at her over his glass as he sipped water, wondering if she’d recall that part of the date.
She paused in the middle of buttering a roll, angled her gaze to his. “The first night I slept with you.”
“Mmm-hmm.”
An endearing flush rose in her cheeks, and a sultry smile tugged her mouth. “That part was nice.”
He cocked his head, feigning insult. “Just nice?”
Noelle rolled her eyes. “Very nice. Superb. Best I’ve ever had.” She grew somber then and whispered, “Our lovemaking was never the problem between us.”
