Page 35 of Between Hello and Goodbye

Chapter Six

I pulled into the Pono Kai around ten the next morning with a small voice in the back of my head noting that this was the fourth time. Coming here had slipped right into my routine the same way pulling up to Morgan’s house for dinners or arriving at the fire station had—too easy. I opened Faith’s front door without knocking because I could and found her crutching around her kitchen, making coffee.

“Hey, you,” she said, smiling as I came in and set two bags of groceries on the counter. “I wasn’t expecting you back so soon. Not that I’m complaining…”

Her hair was fresh-out-of-bed messy, no make-up, and she was only wearing some kind of long sleep shirt. No bra that I could see. It was too easy to imagine this was how she’d look after a night in my bed.

Don’t go there.

She held up a mug. “Coffee?”

“I can’t stay.”

I’d decided on aisle three of Mana Foods that morning that I’d deliver some groceries and get out. No more long talks, no more spending entire days off with a woman I wasn’t going to see after next week. But now I found my damn feet rooted to the floor of her kitchen.

She cocked her head. “My coffee’s not that bad, I promise.”

“I’m having lunch with my brother, up in Hanalei.”

“At ten in the morning?”

“I have some stuff to do first…”

She was already waving her hand. “None of my business. You do you.” She gestured at the bags on the counter. “But at least let me pay you back for all this.”

“Nope,” I said. “Just something to get you through the next few days.”

“A few days? This is enough for a few weeks.” She rummaged through the bag and pulled out a frozen pizza the size of a wagon wheel. “Dinner for one?”

“I figured you could have leftovers,” I said lamely. “How’s the ankle?”

“Better. Or maybe I’m just better at the crutches.”

“Couple more days and you’ll be able to get around just fine.”

She nodded and set the pizza down, not looking at me. “I haven’t decided if I’m staying the whole two weeks or not. The idea of venturing out by myself is still a little bit daunting.” She offered me a small smile. “The last thing I want is for you to get a call and have to come rescue me again.”

I can think of worse things…

Faith nudged my arm. “So…thanks for all this. Putting it away will kill some time.”

I jerked into action. “Shit, let me…”

“Asher, I was kidding.”

“Go sit down and put your foot up,” I said, unpacking the bags. “I got this.”

“Thank you,” she said and then froze, contemplating how to carry her coffee to the living area with crutches. “God, I’m hopeless.”

“You’re not. You have your hands full, that’s all.”

I grabbed her mug and set it on the coffee table, then went back to the freezer for an ice pack. She sat on the couch, and I settled the bag on her foot, then returned to unpack the groceries, rationalizing like a bastard.

It’s shitty to leave her alone all day, doing nothing. Keeping her company doesn’t have to mean anything except maybe you’re not a complete asshole.

Before I could talk myself out of it, I blurted, “You want to come with?”

“To meet your family?” She smiled over her coffee mug. “Do you think we’re ready for such a big step?”