Page 21 of Save Me
He looked back down at her. “Now?”
She glanced around his chest and shrugged after looking at the clock by her bed. “It’s morning.”
He looked at the clock and laughed. “Just.”
“You’re hungry, right?”
He thought about it and then nodded. “Sure, who would turn down cinnamon rolls?”
“Baking helps take my mind off…” She started but then stopped. “Things.”
His arms tightened around her for a second before letting her go. She climbed out of bed wearing a pair of cotton shorts and a T-shirt, but still pulled on a thick robe and hugged it to her body, as if she were cold. He wanted to remind her that it was easily eighty degrees in the house but kept his mouth quiet as he followed her into the kitchen.
“Can I help?” he asked.
“No, sit.” She motioned to the bar top. “Talk to me about…” She stopped herself as she pulled items from the pantry. “What happened to you and that girl?”
“What girl?” he asked with a slight frown.
“The one you were dating when… The media was always in your face about…” She finished after a slight shake of her head.
“Reagan.” He sighed. “She didn’t stick around once people started pointing fingers at me.”
“That’s too bad.” She started putting ingredients into a large mixer. “Her loss. Have you dated since?”
“No,” he answered. “I had thought that Reagan was the one.” He glanced down at his hands and remembered putting a down payment on a ring he was sure she would like.
“Where you going to ask her to marry you?” Crissy asked. When he nodded, she shook her head. “Like I said, her loss.”
“I know what the media says happened between you and Carl is nothing like what the court papers say,” he said.
She stopped working and glanced over at him. “The courts had it right. The media are clueless.” She shook her head.
“Yeah, I thought so. The conspiracy theorists out there worked overtime just to make up some bullshit about you.”
She was quiet for a moment, then he was surprised to hear the sound of her chuckling. “One newspaper actually reported that I was pregnant with my alien lover’s baby.”
He smiled. “Yeah, I saw that one.”
She smiled over at him. “It made me laugh and suddenly I realized that I shouldn’t take any of the articles about me seriously,” she said, and he nodded in agreement. “So why haven’t you dated since?”
He shrugged. “I guess I haven’t found anyone willing to put up with me,” he answered, wanting to change the topic. “You mentioned you paint?”
“Yeah. I don’t get much time to, but occasionally Emma will go to bed early.”
“I’d like to see something you’ve done,” he said as she turned on the mixer.
“Sure, it’s there in my art cabinet.” She motioned to a large cabinet that sat off to the side of the living space. He walked over and opened the doors.
Inside was a magically large amount of art supplies. Everything from easels and paint to colored papers, yarn, and small containers of sparkles. All of it was color coordinated perfectly.
“Wow,” he said, standing back and admiring the rainbow of colorful things.
She answered from behind him, “I saw something like that online and put this together for Emma and myself. We have so much fun with craft time. She loves to draw and wants to learn how to needlepoint, but she’s not ready for that yet.”
“They sell little kits for kids. You know, with big needles and easier patterns,” he suggested. “My sister got some for her kids last Christmas,” he said over his shoulder as he pulled out a small painting.
It was no bigger than his hand, but the image was so detailed. It was of some brightly colored homes he knew sat down the street from there. She’d even added a rooster standing in front of the white picket fence.
