“I get busy at work,” she said quietly, “and then I just blank out. Like you said, weeks have slipped by, and I didn’t notice.”
“Of course,” he nodded. “I’m the same way. But right now I have a moment, so I’ll take it.”
“Since Jerricho’s outside, checking things out around us,” she said, “will he pick up food?”
“He will,” he said.
“Any update?”
“No,” he said, “not really.”
She rolled her eyes at him and headed back into the bathroom. She held up her clothes and said, “I really don’t want to put on these old clothes.”
“Sorry,” he said. Then he stopped. “I have a clean T-shirt, if that would make you feel better.”
Her head popped around the corner. “Would you mind?”
He shook his head. “Nope, we have new clothes coming.” He got up, walked to his bag, pulled out a simple white T-shirt, and handed it to her.
She smiled and said, “This is a huge gift.” She stepped back into the bathroom. And, when she came out again, she was decently covered, with his T-shirt swimming down past her hips.
He grinned. “You look like my best friend’s kid sister.”
She looked up at him in surprise. “Funny. I didn’t even think about you having a girl as a friend when you were younger.”
“I don’t anymore,” he said, with a gentle smile, “but we were close while we had each other.”
He didn’t elaborate, and she didn’t ask, but she looked at him questioningly a couple times.
He knew what that was like too. Because, when you got to know each other, you didn’t really think about all the family ups and downs that came with other people’s stories, but it was what it was. He’d loved her dearly. He hadn’t been there when she’d been killed in a car accident, and that had broken his heart, but it was good ten years ago now. So, although he kept her close to his heart, it didn’t tear him apart anymore. When he saw Eva still looking at him, he smiled and said, “I’m fine honestly. She was killed in a car accident over a decade ago.”
She nodded slowly. “Still it’s hard, isn’t it?”
“As you know,” he said, “it’s hard to lose anybody you care about.”
“Yeah, that’s why I want to go see my father,” she said. “The homesickness is really strong right now.”
“To be expected, when you were locked up for however long.”
“Right, and just knowing that I’m heading there and that I’m almost there, it’s so damn tantalizing.”
“We’ll get you there,” he said.
She nodded. “You know what? I believe you now.”
He burst out laughing. “Well, thanks for the trust,” he said.
“Yeah, I should have trusted you earlier too,” she said, “but, for whatever reason, just with everything happening, it was really hard.”
“I would expect it to be,” he said. “Nothing like this is ever easy, and just so much is going on around you that you don’t get a chance to adjust.”
“No adjustment at all. We’re just from one place to the next and then Paul and Marge. It was just really hard,” she said sadly.
He looked at her. “And how are you handling it now?”
“I still think it’s hard, but I’m dealing.”
He nodded and said, “Good.” He straightened out, shook his body, looked at her, and asked, “Would you mind if I stepped in and had a shower?”
She shook her head. “Go for it,” she said. “Who knows when we get another one?”
“Exactly.” He walked to his bag, grabbed a change of clothes.
She watched, as he walked by, and said, “I’m so jealous.”
“You’ll get new clothes tomorrow,” he promised.
She shrugged. “I have a new shirt now,” she said. “I’m almost wealthy.”
Still chuckling at that, he walked into the bathroom and closed the door.
Chapter 10
Eva didn’t know what to make of him. There was something so very personal about him, but, at the same time, he was a little more aloof and kept himself just that little bit disconnected from everything around him. But then she should recognize that because it’s exactly the same damn thing she did.
Then the door opened again, and he stepped out, just wearing his jeans, and he handed over her earrings.
“Oh, my goodness,” she said, jumping up to take them. “I always forget. I take them out, and then I completely forget about them on the counter.”
“Well, here they are,” he said, and he stepped back in.
But it wasn’t fast enough for her to actually tear her gaze away from the incredibly muscled chest that he’d presented. He could have been a model for any of those romance covers that were everywhere. Or maybe one of those firefighter calendars. He was built. But then, given the job he did, she guessed fitness was of prime importance. She put her earrings on and walked to the window, where she could stare out.
She’d always wanted to do more traveling but hadn’t expected to do it in this cloak-and-dagger method. As she stood here, waiting for him to finish in the shower, she wished she had her own personal laptop or phone, where she could check emails too. Just even to surf the web and to check out the news that she’d been disconnected from for a long time. She looked at his laptop, wondering if she could use it, but, since she hadn’t asked, she didn’t dare.
Just then she heard a sound outside in the hallway. She got up and walked closer to the door, wondering if it was Jerricho but didn’t take a chance by opening the door. She stepped up to the door, wondering if she should let Diesel know. She heard another weird scraping sound, as if somebody were sliding along the hallway.
When the bathroom door opened beside her suddenly, she almost let out a squeak. Eyes wide, her hand over her mouth, she pointed at the door. Diesel, still wearing just jeans, with the towel around his neck, nodded and stepped forward. He used
