Page 28 of Stuck with the Grump

“A little bit. She’s feeling pretty tired today, but the treatments will begin soon,” Leigh said, her voice wavering as she spoke.

I looked up at her, wanting to wrap her in a tight embrace and soothe away her worry, but I didn’t know how. She would probably push me away after the way last night went.

Still, I crossed the kitchen and pulled her to me, breathing in the scent of her vanilla and coffee shampoo. She leaned into me, her arms coming up around my waist as she buried her face in my chest. I could feel the tears seeping through my shirt as her shoulders shook. My arms tightened around her, trying to absorb her pain. I would take all of that anguish if I could.

We only pulled apart when the smoke detector started beeping. Leigh laughed and wiped her eyes, moving around me to pull the pan off the burner before the smoking eggs turned into a fiery inferno.

“You are the worst cook I have ever seen in my life. Go sit down while I make new eggs.”

I saluted her and hauled myself up to sit on the island in the middle of the kitchen. My legs dangled over the side as Leigh moved around the kitchen with ease, grabbing another frying pan and cracking more eggs. I looked at the dishes in the sink, deciding that it could be a later problem.

“What do you plan on doing today?” Leigh asked, flipping the eggs as they cooked.

“I need to get through some more of that paperwork. The lawyers are looking for certain pages of information and I have no clue what box I put them in.”

“Do you want some help?” she asked, grabbing two plates from the cupboards, and setting them down.

“It’s easier if I go through the boxes myself. I know where things are. Vaguely, at least.”

“Oh, alright.” She frowned as she dumped the eggs out onto plates.

I paused and looked at her, not missing the disappointment on her face. “We could go for a walk before I get into all of that, though. Maybe go see how the rest of the neighborhood is doing.”

Her face lit up as if I had just offered her a million dollars. I stared at her in amazement, wondering how such a small thing could make her so happy. If going for a walk with her was enough to wipe away the sadness for a few hours, I would happily do it.

“How the hell do you think they’re going to fix this?” Leigh asked, looking at the pieces of the road floating on top of the flood water. “This is weeks of trying to put a road back together.”

“Leigh, you’d be surprised at what they can get done in a night if they really want to. Once the water goes down, a crew will be sent out here to repair the road. It’ll take a day at most.”

“How do you know that?”

I shrugged and stuffed my hands in my pockets, turning away from the flood and walking back up the hill that led to the house. “I flipped the company that has the contract with the city. It was going under, and I wanted to get into the construction zone business. Seemed like a good place to start. Within two years, I had saved their company and turned it into something profitable.”

“So what you’re saying is that anything you want done around the city tends to get done.”

I shrugged again. “Maybe.”

She shook her head, dark curls cascading down her back. “I can’t believe that you and Tyson really live that way. It’s strange to think about.”

Leigh stopped at a section of the road with a branch spread across it. She crouched down and grabbed the thickest part of the branch before standing and dragging it to the side of the road.

Without a word, she weaved her way between the neighbors’ houses, moving debris out of their driveways. She knocked on doors, wrapping people in warm hugs and having animated conversations with them. There was something easy about the way she greeted the people, as if she had lived at the lake house for years instead of just visiting it with our families throughout the year.

Leigh was smiling and laughing as she hugged a little boy, picking him up and tossing him in the air before catching him again. I imagined what she would be like with a child of her own. In my mind, the child looked like a perfect combination of the two of us. The longer I watched her interact with the neighbors from the road, the deeper I felt myself falling.

She danced with an old man on his porch as soft jazz music played through his speakers. His wife watched on, clapping her hands, and smiling as if the only things that mattered in the world were right in front of her.

“Join us!” Leigh called, waving me over. My cheeks warmed as I ducked my head and walked up the driveway with my hands in my pockets.

When I reached Leigh, the old man spun her out of his arms and straight into mine. I grinned down at her as she stumbled a little over her feet. Leigh recovered quickly, one hand resting on my shoulder while I cupped the other in my hand. We moved to the beat, dancing with the couple I had never met before.

As I danced with her, I wondered when else in my life I would have ever been caught doing this. There wasn’t a single time in my life where I ever would have considered dancing on a stranger’s porch with a woman I barely knew. And yet, there was something about the way she was looking at me that drew me in. Even if I wanted to stop, I couldn’t.

A few days at the lake house were enough to open my eyes to what really mattered.Shehad opened my eyes.

When the song finished, I went to clear debris out of their driveway while she sat down to talk with them. As I worked, I kept looking up at her, noticing the smile on her face when she looked at me. I would drag all the trees off of all the properties to see that smile on her face again.

“What are you smiling at?” she asked as she joined me on the road again.

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