Chapter 18

Haisley spent the day searching for something she could make for dinner with the ingredients in Peach’s refrigerator and pantry. After she made the decision to make spaghetti and sauce, she unloaded his dishwasher and then cleaned his bathroom.

She figured she needed to earn her keep, and cooking and cleaning was easy for her. Before she began working in the store, she spent some time cleaning people's houses and ended up working for one of the motels in town cleaning rooms. She didn't mind hard work and had the whole place clean. Dinner was almost finished when Peach stepped in.

“Wow, that smells great,” Peach said as he set his bag on the floor beside the door.

“I hope you like it. I found enough ingredients to make spaghetti with meat sauce. I had to doctor the sauce because you only had a jar in the pantry.”

"It smells great. Let me put up my piece and wash up, and I'll be back in a moment."

She nodded, wondering if he'd meant gun. Of course, he did. But he wasn't her ex, and she didn't need to fear what he would do with a gun in the house.

Peach stepped into the main room of the house and was shaking his head. “You know, you don’t have to clean my place. I appreciate it, but you’re not here to clean.”

She shrugged. “I know. I just felt the need to help out. I’m not good with sitting around doing nothing.”

Peach stepped into the kitchen and grabbed two bowls. "So you cleaned and cooked. Did you take a nap?"

She shook her head. “No. I slept late. I think I was really tired from traveling.”

“I’m sure you were. So Harry and Rory are going to come over tomorrow night and help me go through the box of papers.”

“Oh.” Worry filled her. Wild and Ava had been nice, but she wasn’t sure if his other friends would like her.

"Rory was in the Marines, but now she has a sweet gig working for a consulting firm that advises large companies about international security."

“I don’t even know what that means.”

Peach nodded as he carried their plates to the table and motioned for her to join him. “I know, right? She’s really smart. I’m glad she and Harry are together. She’s good for him.”

Haisley took a seat across from Peach, worry filling her. She wasn't impressive at all. Her jobs consisted of being a cleaner and a shop clerk. It was obvious she was using Peach, and his friends would probably hate her for it.

Peach had taken a bite and moaned. "This is great." He glanced up and narrowed his gaze. "I can tell you're overthinking this."

“I don’t like taking advantage of you.”

“Trust me, you aren’t. If I didn’t want you here, I would have driven you to a shelter in Atlanta and walked away.”

“Why do you want me here? I’m a nobody.”

He ate another forkful of food, and then his lips twisted up to the side after he swallowed. "First off, it's the right thing to do. If I'd left you in Georgia, I'm sure the sheriff would have done something. You're able to get around and do stuff, but in a few months, you'll be much more pregnant, and you'd be an easy target for those men. I'm sure they don't want your baby born. Once you can prove that the baby is one of theirs, they'll have to at least pay child support, and they might end up in jail. They don't want that."

“I could have gone somewhere else.”

Peach nodded. “That’s true, but my mom thought enough of you to take you in. This is a way I can honor one of her last wishes.”

She ate a little more of the food on her plate, thinking she was much hungrier than she’d first thought. “Thank you. I don’t want you to think I don’t appreciate it. I do. I’m grateful you opened your house and got me out of there.”

“You’re welcome. And please take some time to make up your mind about what you want to do. Honestly, if you want to wait to get a job, that would be okay.”

She couldn’t do that to him. “No. I need to earn my keep.”

He set his fork down and shook his head. “No, you don’t have to earn anything.”

“But everything is so expensive. If I wasn’t living here, you could have a roommate who paid rent.”

Peach burst out laughing. “There isn’t anyone I’d want living with me other than you. I’ve lived in barracks enough to know I don’t want another Navy guy as a roommate, and I certainly don’t want some random citizen in my house.”

“Okay, but I need to pay for food.”

He took another bite and moaned. "This is so good. And no, you don't. I decided to use the money from the sale of my parents' place to care for you and the baby. It will last a few years."

“No, you can’t do that. I’m really not worth that.”

She saw anger flash across his face, and she might have flinched. He raised both hands and blew out a breath.

“I’m not angry at you. I just don’t want you to think more of me than I am. Let me determine what is good for me and what isn’t. I’m glad you’re here. It’s nice to have someone to talk to who isn’t a guy in the Navy.”

It was her turn to laugh. “I’m not very witty.”

"I think you are. And I'm not a deep thinker, either. I think we'll fit perfectly together."

His words made her insides warm, but based on how his gaze flicked from hers to his food made her think maybe he hadn’t meant to say exactly what he’d said.

After they ate, Peach insisted on doing the dishes. He told her that the cook shouldn’t ever have to do the dishes.

“But what if I want to help?” Haisley asked.

“You can if you want to. I won’t dictate what you do or don’t do, but I don’t expect you to cook and clean. If you make dinner, I’ll do the bulk of the dishes if I’m here.”

“That sounds fair.”

"I'm a fair guy. So I was talking to the guys at work, and they all wanted to go to the beach on Saturday morning. But we could head out to the beach on Thursday evening if you wanted to see it before then."

Spending time with Peach was a double-edged sword. She was getting too enamored with him. There was no way he wanted more. He hadn’t even tried to kiss her. He told her over and over again that he wasn’t going to sleep with her. Maybe she wasn’t that desirable.

Realistically, she was damaged goods. Her mother would call her ruined. She’d had sex with a bunch of men, though she didn’t remember it because Will had drugged her and passed her around to all of his friends.

Maybe she was at fault. Her life was one big messed up pile of trash. She should have known Will would have taken advantage of her. He'd ruined her car and other things. Now, he'd ruined her.

Peach finished cleaning up the dinner dishes, and he turned, his eyes narrowing. “What’s wrong?”

She shook her head. “Nothing.”

“I can tell you’re upset.”

Tears welled up, and she didn’t want him to see her crying. “I’ve just made a mess of my life.”

“No, you really haven’t.”

"What am I going to do? I'm pregnant with some guy's baby, and I don't even know who. I don't know who I fucked that night. Your mom was at least wise enough to take me to the local clinic and have me tested for diseases, but I still don't know who I had sex with. I just know they did stuff to me that I hate talking about, and now I'm telling you, and I'm so embarrassed. What will your friends think of me?"

Peach moved to her. His arms were around her, and she wondered if she should pull away. They weren't a couple, but honestly, it felt like they were. She'd never had a relationship that didn't have an obsessive amount of sex with an obsessive amount of control over her. Peach was unlike anything she'd ever known.

She couldn't lean on him. He was too good for her, and he deserved someone who wasn't in a terrible situation like she was. Though she wanted to cling to him, she pushed away and moved to the kitchen to get a drink of water.

“I’ve made mistakes. I know I have to pay for those mistakes in one way or another. Thank you for taking me in. It was really nice of you to help.”

The look that passed over Peach's face made her want to pull him close and hold him until the hurt stopped. But she wasn't here to be his girlfriend. He deserved someone better than her. She needed to get her life together and find her own place, so Peach could actually have a life.