Page 39 of Falling for Mindy

“It’s the best answer for now. I have a big house with plenty of room. You can have your own space if that’s what you want. Hopefully, in a few days, it’ll be cleared up and the police will have him. You gave them the cell number he’s using, and they can track that to find him. This is serious, and we can’t waste time indulging in awkwardness about this. You’ll come home with me, stay in the guest room. You have your laptop and your phone. We’ll get you anything else you need,” I said patiently.

Reluctantly, she said okay. On the way to my house, she called her mom. I tried not to pay attention so she’d have some privacy, but it broke my heart. She kept her voice bright and breezy, and explained briefly about fumigating the building and even made a joke about how much Katie hates bugs. She said she’d talk to them tomorrow and hung up after clearly having to refuse multiple offers to go stay with them. She was so brave, protecting them from both danger and worry. It just made me feel even more protective of her.

I gave her a quick tour of the house and showed her to the guest room. It was pretty basic, a bed, nightstand and dresser. She kept thanking me, and I had to keep deflecting her thanks and trying not to touch her.

“I’ll let you get settled in here while I order dinner,” I offered.

I heard the shower in the guest bath turn on while I was ordering some food. I tapped in some items for a grocery delivery but waited to check out till she could tell me anything special she wanted. After a long time, the shower shut off and she came downstairs. It was a good thing I was sitting down, or I might have fallen over at the sight of her. She was freshly scrubbed from the shower, her blonde hair wet and no makeup at all. She was so beautiful. Just in a t-shirt and yoga pants, standing there seeming to fill my living room with some kind of glow.

“I keep gym clothes in my backpack,” she explained, gesturing to the outfit. “But I’ll need to use your washer to have something to wear to class tomorrow. Think anybody will notice if I just wear the same clothes every day?”

“We can go get you something to wear,” I told her.

“I’ll be okay for a couple of days. You might have to loan me a t-shirt,” she said.

I tried not to think too much about seeing her in one of my t-shirts.

“Need anything from the grocery store?”

“I can eat whatever. I’ll be glad to pay for some groceries though,” she offered.

“No, that’s not what I meant. I meant, do you need anything specific?”

“Not really,” she said, “you have coffee?”

“Of course,” I smiled.

“Cereal?”

“Two kinds.”

“Okay. Then I’m all set,” she smiled at me. “I’m really sorry about all this. Thanks again for letting me stay here.”

“You can’t pay for groceries, but I’m going to start charging you a gratitude tax. Every time you thank me excessively, you have to put a dollar in a jar,” I teased her.

“What’s the money for?” she asked.

“To pay for therapy so you quit apologizing and thanking everyone for letting you breathe and take up space.”

“Spoken like a true feminist,” she said. “I’ll try to remember.”

The doorbell announced the DoorDash delivery, and I collected our food. We sat at the table eating the Italian I’d ordered from a local place I liked. I was glad to see her eating, especially after how hollow and pale she’d looked earlier.

“You’ve done me a huge favor,” she said.

“If you start thanking me again it’s gonna cost you a dollar,” I warned.

“No, I mean it! Katie didn’t know what was going on, so I couldn’t talk to her about it. About worrying that Alicia’s ex would catch up to her and then getting a text from him. The fact that you know all about it just lets me relax a little. And I’m not sitting by myself in my apartment staring crazily at the door waiting for him to burst in. Katie was out last night, and I was alone with my thoughts. I got in my head about it and just started spinning these imaginary worst-case scenarios,” she confided. “So this is way better than that was.”

“It’s not a problem. This was my idea, remember,” I said. I didn’t tell her how glad I was that she was staying with me; how nice it was to eat with her and talk to her. “I like the company,” I admitted.

“Me talking about myself? That must be a huge thrill for you, instead of the peace and quiet you expected,” she said.

“I’d be at the gym otherwise. Instead of eating chicken fettuccine in the comfort of my home.”

“So I basically derailed your fitness plan too?”

“Do not apologize. I’ve spent way too much time with Aaron lately. That’s my friend who’s a trainer and owns the gym.”

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