Page 19 of Control (Everyday Heroes 3.50)
“Good,” he says as if he doesn’t hear the annoyance lacing every syllable I speak.
Silence falls as we stare at each other for a beat as I figure out what to say and he waits for it.
“You didn’t show up to class tonight.”
Just when I thought I was starting to like him...
“I wasn’t aware you were keeping tabs.”
His eyes narrow as he looks closer than I want him to look before crossing his arms over his chest and leaning a shoulder on the doorjamb, forcing me to take a step back into the house to gain some distance.
“Why does the class scare you so much?” he asks.
“No one said it did.”
“No one had to say it...your actions speak for themselves.”
Once again he's caught me flat-footed—first with the damn flutters and now with wanting to know why I didn’t show up to class. And I hate that I feel like I want to tell him when I don’t talk about this with anyone other than Grant and Emerson.
But I don’t. I recover quickly.
“I had to stay home. A plumber was coming to look at what I think is a broken pipe.” He just looks at me, which prompts me to ramble further. “He didn’t show up though.”
He twists his lips as he judges whether to believe me or not.
“Is your water off?” he finally asks.
I nod, holding our gaze steady so he believes me, all the while feeling slightly let down that he’s not pushing me more on this. “The sprinkler line is, yes. The grass is still wet, so I don’t know...maybe it’s the mainline. Maybe i
t’s God knows what.”
“He didn’t show?”
“He’s coming. He’s running late. He’ll be here later.”
That’s the problem with lying to your neighbor—they can see people coming and going at your house and lies can easily be proven or disproven.
“Uh-huh.” He doesn’t believe me. Those brown eyes of his say it but he doesn’t speak the words. “Desi, what happened to you to—?”
“Why don’t you sleep at night?” The question is out of my mouth before I even think through explaining why I know that.
His subtle startle would probably go unnoticed by most, but I see it. I notice the slight hesitation that tells me there’s something there beneath the surface.
He smiles and shakes his head. “It seems like we both have something the other one wants to know about. How about that?” He lifts his brows in challenge and then takes a step back off the porch. “Later, Desi.”
And with that I watch him walk out of my yard.
In fact, I walk through the house to the front to watch him out the front window. He walks across his front yard over to his motorcycle in the driveway and fiddles with something on it.
I close my eyes briefly and fight the urge to walk outside and tell him about the man...
But why?
Is it because I see someone who possibly fights internal demons too? Or is it because last week, even though I’d felt like his crash dummy at class, I’d also felt extremely...safe?
Chapter Eight
Desi
