“Not arrogant.” His smirk vanished as he closed the distance between them, stopping directly in front of her. “You and I are going to collide.” He allowed a fraction of space between them. “That’s where this train has been headed since the moment you moved in here.”
His face was so close. She could easily mark the light brown striations in his eyes. The dark fan of his lashes. The thick slash of his eyebrows. She thought for certain he was going to kiss her again. And contrary her . . . she leaned forward incrementally. “Don’t kiss me,” she pleaded in a whisper.
He chuckled lightly. “I won’t do that. You’ve drawn your line in the sand, Faith Walters. I’ll sit back and wait for you to step over it.” That said, he moved away, walking backward slowly, his gaze devouring her. When he reached his door he turned. Keys already in his hand, he unlocked his door and moved inside. Disappearing from her sight, though not disappearing from her thoughts.
She reentered her house, thoughts of him chasing after her, the sensation of him trailing her like a ghost.
It would be a long sleepless night.
FOURTEEN
That Monday Faith left work early for a dentist appointment. She’d gone to the same family dentist since high school. She had attended Sweet Hill High School with Dr. Brown’s goddaughter, Teeny Roberts. Contrary to what her name might indicate, Teeny Roberts wasn’t teeny. Considering Faith’s own impressive size, she was not one to cast aspersions either. Teeny was a member of the high school wrestling team and the biggest bully to come out of the Sweet Hill public school system since ever. Truly, training her in wrestling might have been an irresponsible move on behalf of the coaching staff as far as Faith was concerned.
Teeny had been an equal-opportunity bully. All kids, boys and girls alike since kindergarten, had been subject to her wrath at one time or another. Still, Faith smiled as Dr. Brown shared the fact that Teeny had just had her fifth baby. She had married Bobby Landers right out of high school and it appeared they had spent the next seven years steadily procreating.
The irony, of course, was that Teeny had used Bobby Landers as a punching bag all through elementary school. Apparently she had been harboring a secret crush on him all these years. One could assume she’d found a healthier way to convey her ardent love, since the two of them were married now and working toward populating the world. Figured. Even Teeny Roberts had found the love of her life.
Faith talked around his hands in her mouth as he asked about her family and work and dating life (because everyone seemed to think that was ripe ground for conversation). In the universal way of all dentists, he seemed to understand all her answers.
Her mouth felt clean and new again as she drove across town to her house, making one stop along the way to pick up her dry cleaning. “Is it true you’re dating that nice Brendan Cooper?” Mrs. Smitty, the owner of the dry cleaner, asked as she handed over Faith’s clothes.
Faith winced. Mrs. Smitty happened to be sisters with Nora Blattenberg, who owned the Sweet Hill Recorder and, naturally, spent a lot of time at the courthouse. Of course, as a reporter, Nora would be privy to all of the gossip that went on in that building.
“We did have a date a week ago.” She nodded politely, remembering that Mrs. Smitty had been a friend of her mother’s and had brought over dinners for months after her mother passed away—long after everyone else had moved on with their own lives and forgotten about the grieving Walters family.
“Ah, I reckon he took you someplace nice. Such a gentleman that man! And so handsome! Where did you two go?” She leaned forward expectantly, her eyes bright as she waited for Faith to spill all the details, and Faith dutifully answered, including what they ordered and how much the restaurant charged for iced tea. As far as Mrs. Smitty was concerned, a three-dollar iced tea was criminal.
Half an hour later, Faith extricated herself, promising to attend the annual boosterthon spaghetti dinner. Mrs. Smitty’s nephew played football and they had dreams of making it to state this year.
North wasn’t in the backyard. His bike was gone. As she pulled into her driveway (thankfully vacant), she noticed North’s side gate was wide open. She’d never noticed it open before. North was always mindful about that. Maybe the meter reader had come by and left it open.
Emerging from her car, she hesitated. She looked left and right up the quiet street. No one was outside. Only a few cars were even parked in driveways. Everyone was either at work or school this time of day. The neighborly thing to do, the right thing to do, would be to close the gate for him. He surely had all kinds of valuable things in his backyard shop.