Nothing Personal (The Kincaids) by James Rosalind

Author:James, Rosalind [James, Rosalind]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2013-10-15T21:00:00+00:00

The Morning After

Desiree came out of the bathroom, not sure what she’d find. She’d woken to the soft sound of rain on the roof, a gentle drumming that had almost lulled her back into sleep, until she’d remembered. Her grandmother, the hospital. And Alec.

He was sitting at the kitchen table, his laptop open in front of him. He looked at her as she hesitated in the entrance to the living room, and smiled. Not a grin, just the very sweetest smile.

“Hi,” he said.

She pulled the sash of her robe tight with both hands. “Umm . . . hi.” Well, this was awkward.

“Want some coffee? I hope you don’t mind, I went ahead and poked around until I found it.”

“Sure.” But she wasn’t really paying attention. Her purse wasn’t on the end table next to the door where she always put it. Had she left it at the hospital somehow? When had she last had it? She couldn’t remember, and felt a hot flash of panic.

“What’s wrong?” he asked with his hand on the refrigerator door, watching her wandering around the living room.

“Did you see my purse? I need my phone. Did I leave it? Do you remember if I had it?” The panic was taking full hold now.

“It’s right by your bed.”

“Oh.” She realized why he knew. That he’d have seen it, because he’d slept there. But that didn’t matter right now. She needed to call.

“But your grandma’s doing fine,” he said before she’d even made it to the hallway again.

She stopped, turned. “She is? How do you know?”

“Called to check, soon as I got up. She had a good night, and everything’s looking good. Still asleep, though.”

She sagged with relief. Meanwhile, he pulled the mug from the microwave, filled it from the coffeemaker, waved it enticingly in her direction. “Coffee right here,” he coaxed. “You have to come sit with me to get it, though.”

She had to smile. She couldn’t help it. She sat down opposite him at the dinette, picked up the cup he set before her. “You heated my milk first,” she realized.

He looked confused. “Wasn’t that right?”

“How did you know I like it that way?”

That sweet smile again. “I’ve been watching you heat up your milk for months now, remember? I know what you like.”

She took a sip of the pale brown stuff. No sugar, and nearly as much milk as coffee, exactly right. He really did know what she liked, in more ways than one. But then, she’d liked everything.

She sneaked another peek over the rim of her cup. Same soft flannel shirt in a deep blue plaid he’d been wearing the day before, the neck of the white T-shirt showing underneath, but the shadow of dark beard above was gone. He’d found the pack of disposable razors too, then. She remembered the scrape of whiskers against tender skin in the dark, and shivered a little.

Another determined sip of coffee. No choice. They had to talk about this.

“About last night,” she said as briskly as she could.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.