27. Haven

27

HAVEN

The day has been a busy one, but I'm still on a high from this morning with King. He wouldn't let me out of bed until he'd taken me twice, and even then he didn't seem to want to let me go.

I try to push everything, all my worries, to the back of my mind as I try to take care of everything at the community center. I'm checking off the list, and for everything I mark off, I add two more things that I just remembered that need to be done.

It's almost noon when the front door opens. "Chrissy, what are you doing here?"

She rolls her eyes, walking in with a big bag from what looks like Red's Diner. "My brother insisted I come to check on you, and so I thought I'd bring lunch for us both. You got time to eat? "

"I do have time, but I'm sorry King sent you. I'm sure you have plenty to do today without babysitting me."

She waves me off as she sets the bag on the counter and starts unloading everything. "Please, I'm just giving my brother shit. I wanted to come see you. You don't know how excited I am to have a sister."

I smile at her, but it doesn't quite reach my eyes. I'm happy to have a sister too, but a part of me wonders how long this is going to last. His brothers and Chrissy have all seemed to accept me, and for the first time last night, I felt what it was like to be a part of a family. "I'm excited to have a sister too."

Chrissy takes out the last container. "Yeah, and not just any sister… I'm a sister that has brought you a slice of the famous apple cinnamon Blaze cake."

My mouth drops open. "You didn't."

She opens the container and inhales it and then sticks it under my nose. "I did. You want to eat this first?"

I hold up a finger. "Okay, one bite."

We each take a spoon, and as we scoop up a huge bite for each of us, we cackle because we think we're funny. Nope, no little bite for us .

We start with the cake and then we go to the chicken salads. There's no pause in the conversation, and I appreciate how easy it is to talk to Chrissy. She tells me about her job as a nurse at the hospital in Jasper, and I tell her stories about my modeling career. My cheeks hurt from smiling so much.

Chrissy wipes her mouth with the napkin. "I can't believe my brother didn't send Callan with you today."

I roll my eyes like I'm frustrated, but the truth is, I appreciate how protective he is with me. "I had to convince him that I was okay. This is exactly five miles from the house, and it's Whiskey Run. He keeps saying he's going to hire me a full-time driver, but I told him it would be such a waste of money."

Chrissy shrugs and searches my eyes. "I get it, I do. You're independent, but that's just the way that King shows how he cares for someone. He's not big on affection or things like that… so this is how you know he cares for you. He looks out for the people he loves."

Her words do something to me, and I nod my head. She doesn't know that this is fake and that her brother doesn't love me. "Okay."

We finish eating, and I take her on a tour of the community center before telling her all the plans. We're back to the front when my phone rings, and I hold it up. "It's King."

She rolls her eyes. "Well, I'll go so you two lovebirds can talk. See you soon, sis."

"See you soon. Thank you for lunch. My treat next time."

She points at me as she's walking out the door. "I'll hold you to it. Tell my brother I did my job and checked in on his wife. See you!"

I'm waving at her as I answer my phone. "Hey, husband."

His voice is husky. "Oh I like you answering the phone that way."

I giggle. "Chrissy just left. She fed me and kept me company. You do know I don't need a babysitter, right?"

There's some noise in the background, and it's obvious his office is busy, but he doesn't seem to care. "I know you don't. I just hate for you to be there by yourself all day, that's all. Is that okay?"

I sigh because how can I not completely fall in love with him? "Yeah, it's okay."

"Good. Do you have plans tonight?"

My heart rate picks up. "Nope. No plans. "

"Good. I have something special planned. Can you be ready by six?"

I look at the clock on my phone and see it's only two o'clock. "I sure can."

"Okay, I need to go, but I'll see you at the house at six."

"I'll be ready," I promise.

His voice drops. "Bye, wife."

A thrill goes through me. "Bye, husband."

As soon as he hangs up, I try to imagine what he could have planned. I am at a standstill for the community center, so I can take the rest of the day off and go home to get ready.

As soon as I make the decision, I pack up my things, throw my bag over my shoulder, lock up, and hustle out of the building. If I go home now, I'll have more than enough time to shower, curl my hair, and get ready for tonight.

As I'm walking to my car, someone hollers at me, "Miss. Excuse me, miss."

I turn, and as soon as I do, a man on a skateboard flies by and knocks me to the ground. I go sprawling face first. Jarred, I lay here for a minute, and the man that was hollering at me comes next to me. "Are you okay, miss?"

I roll to my back and look up at him. "Yeah, I think so."

He helps me up, and I'm so out of it, he has to practically drag me to my feet and hold on to me. He's hovering over me, and I'm gripping on to him because I'm afraid my legs are going to buckle. I can feel the road rash on my knees and my hands.

"Thank you," I murmur. The man holds on to me and asks over and over if I'm okay. When I get my bearings, I try to pull from his arms, but he's reluctant to let me go. "Are you sure you're okay?"

I nod and force a smile to my face. "I'm okay. Thank you."

He stands next to me for a few minutes as I try to catch my breath. We both inspect my knees and my hands, which are bleeding. "Those are nasty cuts. Are you sure I can't help you?"

"No, I'm going home. I can take care of them there."

After the man finally walks away, I take a good look at my knees and my hands, and it's not pretty. I take a step toward my car and wince at the pain in my ankle. It's bearable, but it hurts. I hobble toward my car, and the whole way, I'm refusing to let this upset me. King has a date night planned, and I'm not going to let anything ruin it. I'll clean my cuts up and be good as new.