Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 54287 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 271(@200wpm)___ 217(@250wpm)___ 181(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54287 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 271(@200wpm)___ 217(@250wpm)___ 181(@300wpm)
Before I can say anything, he opens his arms wide and pulls me against his body. I’m in shock because this was not what I was expecting at all, but I’m not dumb. I’m going to take full advantage of being held by him. I let my head rest against his chest and put my hands at his waist. He has one hand at my back, and the other is at the base of my neck, holding me to him as if he doesn’t want to let me go. I’m not sure how long we stand here, just like this, but he rests his cheek on the top of my head, and I close my eyes trying to commit all of it to memory—the smell of him, the feel of his hands on me, the way his hard body is pressed against my softer one—I take it all in silently, willing him to stay right where he’s at.
It’s a car horn from a person driving by that finally pulls us apart. His cheeks are ruddy as he looks at me. “Sorry about that. I mean, I wasn’t expecting you, that’s all.”
Is he making excuses for why he hugged me the way he did? Is he regretting it already? With a smile that doesn’t quite reach my eyes, I shrug my shoulders. “Don’t apologize. I was nervous about stopping by. I thought you wouldn’t have a clue who I was and it was going to be awkward, so yeah, uh, this was better than I thought it would be.”
I barely contain my cringe. Geez, even now after all this time, I ramble when I’m talking to Davis.
He points to his front door. “You want to come in? Or we can sit out here if you’d rather.”
I shrug, and he gestures for me to go inside. “I have a place to sit inside. Let’s do that. Unless you’re in a hurry to get home.”
I shake my head and walk inside the apartment. “No hurry. Alexis is with Mom and Dad.”
I walk past him inside and then straight to the couch and sit down, wrapping my hands together in my lap.
“Sorry about the place. It’s pretty bare, but I haven’t had much time to decorate or go shopping.”
I shake my head as if it’s not a big deal. Honestly, I hadn’t even looked around the apartment because from the first moment, my eyes have been glued to him. “I’m the one that should be apologizing. I’m sorry for just dropping in on you.”
He waves me off. “How’s Alexis and Brenda and Rick?”
I breathe a little easier when he asks about my daughter and my mom and dad. This I can talk about easily. “Alexis is six years old and in kindergarten. She loves school and is growing up way too quick. Mom and Dad are good, but I hope you know that as soon as they find out you’re in town, they’re going to be showing up on your doorstep.”
His eyebrows lift. “You think they want to see me?”
I almost laugh, as if he’s just told a joke or something. But when he doesn’t even crack a smile, I realize he’s serious. I lean forward, wishing I was close enough to touch him, but he’s standing up across the room, with his arms crossed over his chest. “Yes, they definitely want to see you. Mom is going to be mad that I came here today without bringing her. But I wanted to check with you first… before I unleashed the whole Campbell family on you.”
He tightens his arms around himself, and finally his lips lift into a small smile. “Maybe I’ll go over there to see them tomorrow.”
I know they’d love to see him, so I nod my head. “They’d love that, Davis.”
He lets his hands fall to his sides and then takes a few steps to the chair opposite of me. For the first time, I notice his limp, and I have to bite my lip to hold back the emotions that overwhelm me. It’s like it was yesterday instead of two years ago that my brother called us to tell us that Davis had been hurt. We were going to go see him in the hospital, but he refused visitors. For the last two years, he’s avoided my family, which is why I was so nervous about coming here today. “So… Whiskey Run? Are you going to stay here long?”
He has his elbows resting on his knees as he weighs me with a look. “I’m not sure. I have a few months of rehab left, and Walker brought me here to finish it out. He offered me a job at the rehab center, and I took it on a temporary basis.”
I tilt my head to the side. Everyone who lives in Whiskey Run knows Walker. He owns a lot of businesses and apartment buildings here. He has a compound on the outskirts of town, and he’s the one that funded the new rehab center next to it. “How do you know Walker?”