Page 65 of Love in the Storm

“I think there are any number of what-ifs you can ask about any situation. If you were dating someone who wasn’t an alcoholic, wouldn’t there still be a chance you could fall in love and things still didn’t work out?”

“I get it.”

“Do you?” his mother asked. “Because all I’m hearing is that you care about her, but you can’t accept that she made mistakes. If we were all bound to our mistakes forever, the world would be a dark place.”

Asa swallowed. It had been a long time since his mom had taught him a lesson.

She turned her attention to the dishes and started scrubbing them with soapy water. “You needto learn to accept people as they are. Not even Danielle was perfect.”

“I know she wasn’t perfect, but there were no secrets with Danielle. Nothing was ever going to surprise me.”

“That’s all well and great, but what about now?”

He sighed. “Surprises aren’t my favorite.”

“That’s rich coming from a man who enters buildings where gunfire has been reported.”

“I haven’t done that in a long time.”

“Thank goodness. My heart couldn’t take it.”

Asa fell silent as he dried the dishes beside his mom. The one thing he’d been wanting to ask her hadn’t come up yet, and now he didn’t know how to say it.

His mother spoke first, relieving him of his mission. “She can stay here.”

Asa didn’t have a spare room, but his mom did. In fact, she had two. While it wasn’t his place to offer the room to Lyric, he’d hoped his mother would pick up on his intentions.

“Are you sure? I don’t want you to think you have to do this.”

“I’m not worried about Lyric bothering me. Kendra has mentioned her before and has only said good things. It sounds like she needs a helping hand.”

“Thanks.”

She turned to him and smiled. “I’ll be glad if shedecides to stay. It’ll be good for you to be around her more.”

Asa chuckled. His mom made it sound like Lyric was the good influence. “I was thinking the same thing.”

22

LYRIC

Lyric crawled on her hands and knees to a box on the other side of the bedroom labeled for bathroom items. She had one day to get her things out, and without an actual residence to move these boxes to, they’d mostly have to be donated to the thrift store. Condensing her life into the few boxes that would fit in Kendra’s place was like round two of packing. It didn’t help anything that she’d taken the day off to get it done. She needed the money, and the bitterness over the move had a black cloud settling over her head.

A knock on the door startled her, and she stopped to listen. If it was Russell, she wasn’t answering. She had eighteen hours left, and she wouldn’t be leaving until then.

Whoever was at the door knocked again. Now wasn’t the best time for a visitor. She was sweatyfrom packing, and she hadn’t changed out of her pajamas.

“Lyric.”

Asa! Of all people. Why did it have to be him when she looked like she’d just rolled out of bed?

She stumbled to the bathroom and pulled the ponytail from her hair. The tangled mess fell over her shoulders. That wouldn’t work. She twisted it into a more contained bun and scrunched her nose at the sickly pale reflection. She’d been doing a lot of crying and not a lot of eating these last few days, and it showed.

Asa knocked again, and Lyric hurried to the door. She took a calming breath and opened it.

Of course, Asa looked like he’d just finished chopping wood and was now ready for his lumberjack-romance book cover photo shoot. Ugh. Figured.

She locked her fingers in front of her and stretched a smile. “Hey.” What else was she supposed to say? What are you doing here? How do you know where I live? Why are you torturing me with your perfectness? I miss you?

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