Page 68 of A Whirlwind of Color (The Light to My Darkness 2)

She smiled and sat down next to me. “You know, the little things to help make everything run smoothly here. I cook and clean. And I take little Scarlett off your hands whenever I get a chance. We go to the park all the time. She loves the park. And especially the zoo. She’s an adorable little girl. Just an absolute pleasure. Oh my, I feel like I’m going on and on. I don’t need to tell you about Scarlett, you already know all that.” She cleared her throat. “I mean, you will soon. You’ll remember. I know you will. You must. Now eat up. You need your strength.”

This woman was the adorable one. Not Scarlett. Scarlett leered at me. Ellen was simply wonderful. Or she was an intruder that creepily knew way too much about my family. I was willing to take my chances though, because the omelet looked amazing.

“This is fantastic,” I said after taking my first bite.

Ellen stood up. “At least your taste buds haven’t forgotten what they like. That’s probably a good sign. I’m going to go make sure we have all the ingredients for your favorite meals all week. After all, if one sense comes back, surely the rest will follow.”

I wasn’t sure if that was true. But I hoped she was right. She could be. I hadn’t remembered liking mushrooms and peppers in my omelets. Yet, here I was devouring this one. I stopped mid-bite, my cheeks full of food, when I heard the

front door open.

I swallowed down my bite without fully chewing and almost choked. I had no idea why I was nervous to see him. Maybe it was the letter I still had folded up in my hand. Or maybe it was the fact that I knew how badly I'd messed everything up. I just wanted today to be better.

James stepped into the living room in just a pair of running shorts and sneakers. No shirt. All the abs. Sweat dripped down the muscles in his chest. If I still had food in my mouth, I’m pretty sure it would have fallen out because my mouth was probably hanging open. Calm down.

Despite his hotness, he looked nervous, like he hadn’t expected to see me. And pale. His face looked really, super pale. “Hey,” he said.

“Good morning,” I said at the exact same time, blurring out his hello.

He smiled for the briefest of moments before it disappeared again. “Is it okay if I use the upstairs shower?”

“Um…yeah. Of course. I cleaned up the towels on the floor.”

“You didn’t have to do that. Ellen would have this morning.”

Good, he does know her. And then her name finally clicked in my brain. But not because I remembered her from before. It was because Rob had mentioned her to me. He had joked around and pretended Ellen was James’ other wife. It all made sense now. “Yes, Ellen seems very nice. But there’s no way I would have made her clean up after me. It was my fault.” I thought about the letter I had read. If I had tried to kill myself, the stunt I pulled in the bathroom was a thousand times worse.

He raised his left eyebrow at me. “She doesn’t mind, Penny. It’s her job.”

“But still.” The letter was burning a hole in my palm. Ask him.

“You’re supposed to be taking it easy. For a little while longer.”

I nodded. “Okay.”

He took a deep breath, his chest rising slightly. That’s when I noticed the faded scar on his ribcage. And the one on his stomach. But they weren’t as alarming as the scar right above his left peck. It didn’t look old at all. I was pretty sure there were still stitches in it. How had I not noticed that yesterday when he kissed me in the rain? I swallowed hard. Well, I had been rather distracted.

I looked back up at his pale face and he immediately looked away from me. Like he didn’t want me to realize he was staring. Or maybe it was something a little more than that. Stop hiding things from me. “Where were you?”

He ran his fingers through his hair. “I’ve been doing physical therapy a few days a week.”

I tried to force myself to stop staring at his perfect hair. “For?”

“Penny, I’m fine. I’m not the one you need to worry about. You made it pretty clear why you came back.”

There was more to that sentence and we both knew it. You made it pretty clear why you came back, and it wasn’t for me. He was right. I came back for Scarlett and Liam. But I was pulled to him too. It was like we were two sides of a magnet and he was drawing me in with his six pack abs and brooding smile.

“I’m going to go take that shower,” he said.

“When are you going to tell me what happened?” I stared at his pale face, willing him to tell me the truth.

“It’s not a long walk to the hospital. After I shower, maybe we can talk on our way over to see Liam?”

Liam. I bit the inside of my lip. I thought I’d have a bit more time to process everything before meeting my son. But I’d take what I could get. I nodded. “Yeah, that sounds good.”

He didn’t say anything else. He just walked away, giving me a wonderful view of his strong back and firm ass. I sighed and leaned back on the couch. James was the perfect storm. Giving me just enough to need more. I could feel myself being pulled closer to his chaos.

Him saying he wouldn’t sleep in the same bed as me? Now I couldn’t seem to sleep without him. Him saying he wouldn’t touch me? Now I wanted him to. Desperately. I couldn’t just erase how I felt yesterday in his arms. I looked down at my half eaten omelet. I was decidedly not hungry for anything but James.

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