Chapter 5

5

DAMON

T hank goodness that my work yesterday was relatively simple. It was impossible to keep my mind off Allie. We were texting on and off all day and arranged another date for tonight. I also learned that she is still relatively close with her parents, even though they recently moved to Fort McMurray, Canada for her dad’s work, which was just too far north for her.

My body works on autopilot as I sand down the last piece of trim, then wipe it with a damp microfiber cloth so it’s ready for paint. Once I scrub my hands, I go out to the truck to change my shirt. The wind is so gusty that it nearly blows out of my hands, and on the drive to Fran’s Diner, I watch the tree branches swaying and bouncing as if they’re in danger of snapping off.

Allie is behind the counter pouring a glass of water as I walk in. “Hey,” she says, flashing a brilliant smile. “I’ll just be a second.” She digs around in her purse for a blue and white bottle, then takes two pills.

“What’s wrong?” I come closer, anxiously examining her eyes and the color of her cheeks.

She flaps her hand dismissively. “I’m fine. This wind is part of a huge air pressure shift, that’s all.”

“You have a headache?”

Allie laughs. “Not yet. But I have the sparkle tension.”

I give her a flat look, making her laugh again. “Sparkle the what now? You know you’ll have to explain that.”

As we leave the diner and head for my truck, Allie points to the left side of her head, around her temple and over her ear. “Sometimes when the air pressure makes a huge shift, I feel a pinpricky sort of tension here. A slight pressure with an odd tingling like sparkles under the skin. It’s totally bizarre!” Her charming laugh lights up her eyes. “If it lasts for more than a few minutes, it’s a warning that an air pressure headache is on the way.”

“Do you want to go home and sleep it off?”

“Not at all. I just took some painkiller muscle relaxants. They almost always head it off before it starts rocking and rolling.”

We get in and start driving, and I can’t help glancing over every so often to check her color and make sure her fingers aren’t trembling. Any signs of something worse.

There’s another huge gust of wind, and Allie takes a few deep breaths, rolling her shoulders back. “It’s fine,” she says before I can even ask. “It didn’t kick in full blast, and it’s going away already.” Allie reaches over to hold my hand for a moment. “Damon, it’s okay. This is my life. I’m used to it.”

“Okayyy…” Squinting, I give her the shifty side eye until she laughs. “But you’ll tell me if you need anything at all?”

“Of course.”

My house is only a four-minute drive from downtown, and that’s only because I go slowly so Allie can admire the flower gardens in front of some of the older houses. When I pull into the driveway, she exclaims, “Oh! So close! You could walk downtown from here.”

“Yeah, if you didn’t need all the supplies I keep in the truck. Sometimes I walk if I’m having a beer at Jim’s Pizza, or if there’s a party.”

I feel like the proximity to downtown is a point in my house’s favor. Yes, I’m already thinking about her living with me, where there is air conditioning, and I could take care of her any time she needed it.

Allie walks all around the first floor, commenting on my books, my nature photos, and the huge bin of tile and paint samples that I keep by the back door for reference. Then I set her up at the kitchen island with sparkling lemon water and some cheese and crackers. I’ve pre-chopped most of the salad, and the vegetables for the sauce, so dinner prep is minimal.

Honestly, she’s so distractingly pretty that it’s a good thing I’m not doing a lot of knife work. I’d probably slice off my hand while staring at the luscious goddess making herself at home in my kitchen. Her graceful fingers snap the crackers in half, adding a bit of cheese before stacking the halves to make a bite-sized sandwich.

We chat about the town, which I’m thrilled to discover Allie is falling in love with. “I can’t believe there’s a real honest-to-goodness department store ,” she says, while helping me bring dinner over to the table, where we sit close together.

“Yeah. Tidy’s has been here since the beginning of the town, in some form or another. We’re not big enough for a mall or specialty stores, so it’s the catch-all for things we need.”

Three bites into dinner, a lightbulb in the deep recesses of my mind turns on. “You know, they’re going to need a cashier in a few weeks. Katelyn is going back to school in New York for another year.”

“Really?”

“Really. It might be perfect for you. Air conditioning, no stove to blast heat up your nose. You could sit on a stool now and then so you’re not on your feet all day.”

“Hey now. I’m not that fragile, buddy.” Allie squints at me. “There are a few things I need to keep an eye on, but I’m not some delicate Victorian lady who needs to spend half the day on a fainting couch.”

“I know.” My palm lands on her knee. “But in case you haven’t noticed, I really like you, Allie. I’ve never felt this way about anyone. I don’t know, this protective thing came out of nowhere and I’m not used to it. If I overstep, just tell me. Okay?”

“Deal.” She starts to take a bite of pasta, then pauses. “Um, is it okay to ask you about the firefighting stuff? I know that it must be super dangerous. I guess I just want to know what I’m in for if we…” Her cheeks have the most adorable little glow along the top of her cheekbones. “You know.”

“Get together and live happily ever after?”

There’s a twinkle in her eyes that makes my heart swell. “Mmm… Something like that.”

“Well, the triangle doesn’t have any massive industrial buildings or high-rises. So right away, we’re a lot safer than firefighters in any city.”

“True.”

My fingers wander an inch higher, and my thumb lightly strokes her outer thigh through her jeans. “Even though we’re spread out, a handful of us always arrive fast, along with the water truck and the gear truck. At least half the time we don’t even need those, just an extinguisher, or a garden hose.” I chuckle. “I heard one of the older guys talking about how he put out a fire with a dozen stomps of his boots. Dunno if that was entirely true or not.”

“How often do you get calls?”

My hand slips an inch higher, making her eyes light up. “Well, that’s the only annoying part,” I say gently. “We don’t get a ton of calls, but they’re unpredictable. If I got a call in the middle of this dinner, I’d have to ditch you and run.”

“Oh, I understand.” Her delicate fingers twine with mine. “I certainly wouldn’t be offended. People’s health and safety come before one dinner.”

“Will you still say that if it’s our fancy special one-year anniversary dinner?”

“Yes. One hundred percent.” Her lovely blue eyes blink quickly as she realizes what we just admitted. Then she glances at the clock. “Hang on.” She gets up to retrieve her purse, takes out a yellow bottle, and swallows a large orange pill.

“If you don’t mind my asking, how many pills do you take a day?” I ask gently.

Allie grins. “Depends on the day. Thyroid pill first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. That bad boy was a super turbo multivitamin that I take with food. Beyond that, it’s just painkillers if I need them. And since I have that early warning system down pretty well now, I can take them preventatively, which means I take fewer overall.”

“And you promise to tell me if there’s anything I can do to help?”

“Cross my heart.” She lifts a forkful of pasta. “This is amazing, by the way. And we both know that great home-cooked food is the best medicine for anything and everything.”

We both dig in, and our conversation wanders from the best music for working to dealing with weird roommates or neighbors and the cheesy parts of summer that are still amazing.

“I’d like to get to a beach next year,” Allie says thoughtfully. “Maybe even this October after it’s cooled down.”

“You like beaches in the fall?”

“Oh yeah – walking around, listening to the waves, searching for beach glass. I’ve made some jewelry with cool chunks of it.”

I’m just adoring her casual, earthy vibe. “Well, maybe we can go together.”

After dinner, she insists on helping me clear the dishes, but I notice she pulls back a bit from the sink as I’m running the hot water. As I put some things back in the fridge, I sneak a peek at her reflection in the toaster and notice she opens and stretches her jaw several times. She’s also been speaking a bit more slowly.

The poor girl doesn’t want to admit that an air pressure headache is kicking in.

“It’s still pretty warm up here. How about a movie in the basement? It’s cooler and quieter down there.”

Her stunning blue eyes light up. “Perfect.”

I’m starting to figure it out: Allie doesn’t want any of her “glitches”, as she calls them, to get in the way. I’m pretty sure that she’s trying to show me that she’s easy to hang out with.

I’m going to have to care for her as subtly as possible. Find ways to do what’s best for her without mentioning that it’s because of her health.

I know all too well how being overheated can wear a person down. I can’t let that happen to Allie and her curvy, gorgeous, hypnotic body.

The one that I can’t wait to cuddle and get much closer to.