Chapter 22

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

DUSTY

My cat was my best friend, but Tucker was a close second. The man had been there for me since the fifth grade when we’d joined up for a science project and realized how much we both loved space. While he’d grown out of the obsession, mine evolved into a love of science fiction movies and books about different planets and saving up for my entire junior year to buy a telescope while everyone else traveled to Florida for spring break. Hence my cat’s name: Leia. Also, hence why Leia and I were watching Star Wars: The Force Awakens while I ate sliders from another of my herb mixture tests. I kept trying new things, tweaking the recipe, and I was fairly confident in my final product. Next Saturday, it would be me against Nova and we’d have a winner.

Though, honestly, I’d be surprised if Chad let her do any of the cooking. The guy obviously asked for her help so he could spend time with her.

Rain pounded against my house, hitting it like little pebbles. I glanced at the window. We were on a tornado watch, which didn’t mean anything, really. A tornado warning hadn’t been issued yet .

But still, I didn’t want to deal with broken windshields if the hail arrived in earnest. Had anyone explained the tornado vocabulary to Nova? I hadn’t talked to her in a few days—since Saturday night, when she’d sent me a picture of funky looking purple spaghetti. She’d seemed a little weirded out that I was younger than her which, honestly, served to give me more confidence. Our ages were only relevant if she was starting to like me. No one cared how old the guy with a truck was when you only called him to help you move crap around.

But if you wanted a relationship with the guy with a truck, then age had some bearing. Not a lot, though. At least not to me. Why should it matter? I was a reasonable, mature adult. Those three years meant nothing.

My phone buzzed. I smiled when I picked it up.

Nova

Where is the safest place to ride out a tornado in my apartment? Do we go outside so we can be under the steps? I read that under the stairs is the safest place, but our only stairs are outside

It felt a little rewarding that she’d asked me and not Gigi.

Dusty

An interior room with no windows is ideal. In your place, I’d choose the bathroom

Nova

Ben is freaking out

My stomach tightened. I could picture that tiny kid panicking at the thought of an enormous tornado ripping through his little apartment. That was extremely unlikely to happen, but they didn’t know that.

Dusty

Want me to come over? It’s just a watch, so we really don’t have anything to worry about

Nova

What does that mean? When do we start worrying?

I debated texting more, but just dialed instead. It was difficult to determine tone through messages, but she seemed pretty nervous.

“Hey,” she said, answering quickly. She sounded breathless.

“So a watch just means the weather is right for a tornado. We get watches all the time, and they don’t usually turn into anything. When it changes to a warning, then you need to turn on the news.”

“Why?”

“To see where the tornados are, what the trajectory is, if they’re hitting down. A warning means the storm is in your area and possibly creating a tornado. You don’t need to wait out the whole thing in your bathroom, though. The news will keep you pretty educated.”

“Okay,” she said, still breathless. “This is new for us.”

I paused my movie. “I’ll come over.”

“You don’t need to do that.”

“I want to. If it’s not a bother, at least.” I went still, an idea growing in my head. What this family needed was a distraction. If they panicked every single time we got a tornado watch, they would spend the spring and fall rainstorms in a constant state of worry. “Are any of you allergic to cats?”

Nova was silent for a minute. “No. Why?”

“Um, you’ll see.” I’d planned on an early night since I started my next shift in the morning, but it was only seven-thirty. I had plenty of time to see the Walkers and still get a full night’s rest. “I’ll be there in ten. ”

We got off the phone, and I went to brush my teeth and gather Leia before heading out. Ten minutes later I was on their porch, holding my cat against my chest and knocking on the door. Nova swung it open. Her hair was back in a French braid, and she wore a cozy looking pullover.

Her eyes dropped to my orange striped cat, her eyebrow lifting. “You brought an animal.” She smiled. “Hello, gorgeous.”

I stroked the back of Leia’s head to keep her calm. “I thought you weren’t a cat person.”

Nova shrugged, opening the door wider. “This one looks pretty cute. It also explains why you were buying so much cat food when we met.”

“I like to give her a treat when I get off work sometimes, and she loves wet cat food. You know, bribe her to love me despite leaving her alone during my long shifts.”

“I don’t think she needs much bribing,” Nova said, eyeing how content my cat looked in my arms.

Alice stood against the wall, watching me eagerly. Nova’s computer sat on the counter, the news playing loudly.

“We moved to a warning,” she said, her brown eyes wide.

I’d gotten the alert on my phone while I was driving. “Don’t worry,” I said quietly. “It’s going to be okay.” I turned my attention to Alice. “Should I sit on the couch so you can come meet this lady? Her name is Princess Leia, but I just call her Leia.”

Alice nodded. It took about ten minutes of coaxing to get Leia to allow Alice to hold her, then she jumped to the floor and slinked away to explore the house. Ben and Alice followed her around at a distance while Nova sat beside me on the rich blue cushions, her laptop perched on her legs and the news playing loudly, the weatherman constantly repeating himself.

Ben giggled from behind the chair where he and Alice were bent, trying to see where Leia had hidden under the table.

“I’m gonna be honest,” Nova whispered. “I’m almost as terrified as Ben. ”

We looked at him laughing with Alice, not a hint of concern on his face.

Nova leaned closer, her shoulder brushing mine. “Okay, he’s distracted now, but he was — wait.” She turned her head sharply to face me. “Is that why you brought the cat over?”

I shrugged, trying not to feel like an excited teen boy over the fact that the girl I liked was sitting so close. “I figured the kids could use a distraction.”

Her eyes went all shimmery. Then her phone started ringing, so she pulled it out and looked at it. Her mouth turned down. I saw Carter’s name on the screen and a photo of a dark blond man smiling with blue eyes and perfect teeth. It was clear where Alice had gotten her blue eyes. But something about his face looked extremely punchable.

“Guys, your dad is calling,” Nova called. “Who wants to take it first?”

Neither of them responded.

“Alice?” Nova asked, rising from the couch and leaving her computer behind. “You want to go first?”

“Okay, Mommy.” Alice took the phone and swiped it to answer, then walked toward her bedroom. “Hi, Daddy,” she said, her voice disappearing when she closed the door.

Nova took her seat again. “Gigi went to Dallas to see a friend of hers who’s having health problems. Will she have to stay there, do you think?”

Okay, so she didn’t want to talk about Carter anymore. At least not while the kids were around. Her words the other night about how he was winning the divorce had weaseled their way into my mind, and it was hard not to press for more information. Why anyone would leave Nova was beyond my comprehension. The guy was clearly an idiot.

She watched me expectantly. What had she asked? Oh, yeah. Gigi.

“I don’t know. It’ll depend on the weather. She might want to stay with her friend, just to be safe. I wouldn’t want my aunt driving in this weather.”

“You have an aunt?”

“No. But—well, Tucker’s mom, Jan, is the closest thing. If she was in Dallas, I wouldn’t want her driving home right now.”

We watched the news for a bit, the weather guy going over the location of the storm and its projected path. “When do we take cover?”

“I think you’re the one who needs a distraction now,” I said, reaching over and hitting the volume button on the computer to turn it down.

She cringed. “That’s probably true. What do you have in mind?”

Things we could not do, obviously. But I was a gentleman, so I pushed those thoughts aside and tried to think of anything but sliding her onto my lap. My mind traveled to Beeler and Grandpa. If anything was going to kill a sudden wave of attraction, it was thinking of my favorite old man. “Do you guys have any puzzles? Board games? We could play charades.”

Nova glanced at Ben lying on his stomach on the dining room floor, trying to entice Leia from her hiding place. “I don’t think the kids will want to do anything else but play with your cat.”

“Okay. You and me, then.” The thoughts came back, the images so clear in my head of what it would be like to kiss her, I couldn’t help but look at her lips. I immediately snapped back to her eyes and swallowed. It was becoming increasingly harder to ignore my attraction, but I was doing my best. I would be a gold medalist in restraint by the time summer rolled around.

“I have a few puzzles, actually. Or Clue, if you feel like solving a murder.”

“As much as I love murder, I’m a sucker for a good puzzle.”

Nova hopped up from the couch and headed toward her room. “Okay, I have the perfect one. ”

I brought the laptop to the table, because I figured we could keep an eye on the storm while we were distracted. “Want me to pull her out, Ben?” I asked, crouching beside him. Leia was curled into a comfortable ball on the floor, looking at us. The legs of the chairs all formed bars around her, protecting her. I wondered if she’d gravitated here because it smelled familiar—it was our table after all.

“I want her to want to come to me,” Ben muttered, still lying on his stomach, his arm stretched beneath the chair so his fingers rested near her.

I understood him exactly.

“Ben!” Alice called, running down the short hallway to join us in the dining room. “Dad’s on the phone.”

“I’m busy,” Ben said, wiggling his fingers and not taking his eyes off Leia.

Alice turned the phone toward us. “See, Daddy? He’s trying to get the kitty out from under the table.”

The phone was pointing at me more than Ben, with Alice’s arm moving so much it wouldn’t remain steady. Carter sat up taller, his gaze narrowing. “Who is that?”

“She’s Dusty’s kitty,” Alice said, getting down on the floor beside Ben and pushing the phone under the chair so her dad could see Leia.

“I meant the man,” Carter said, and he didn’t sound happy.

“Found it,” Nova said, coming out of her room. She shook the box to rattle the pieces. “It’s America, but every state is covered in its state flower. The ocean is impossible. Just solid blue.”

I rose to my feet and took the puzzle, discomfort edging along my body.

“What?” she asked, her brow furrowing. “You look?—”

“Nova,” Carter snapped through the phone. “Alice, I want to talk to Mommy. ”

Nova took a step away, like she didn’t want to deal with this right now, and I wondered if she realized she’d done that.

Alice crawled out from under the chair and lifted the phone.

Nova took it, pasting a smile on her face. “We’re in the middle of something. Can this wait?”

“No.”

She glanced at me apologetically.

I waved her away. “I’ll get started on Texas.” It felt weird talking, knowing her ex could hear me, but he already knew I was here.

Nova pressed the phone to her chest, blocking the camera. “I promise I’ll be quick. He’s probably worried about the tornado.”

That was extremely unlikely and we both knew it.

She looked at me for a moment longer before the phone’s speaker blew to life again. “Nova!”

She flinched. “Coming.” Then she lifted her eyebrows. “Don’t go anywhere.”

My mouth curved into a gentle smile. “I’m not planning on it.”