Page 44 of Hideaway Heart

I studied her from across the room and felt the urge to take her in my arms and hide her away from the world. “That sounds exhausting. No wonder you wanted time away from that world.”

“I’m fine.” She got up from the chair and slid it beneath the table again. “I’m ready to go when you are.”

* * *

“That’s my house right there,” I said as we passed it. “The red brick on the right.”

“Wait, we’re not stopping?” She turned to me, a look of distress on her face. “I want to see where you live. Where you grew up.”

“You want to goin?”

“Yes.” She tugged my sleeve. “Come on, please?”

Grumbling under my breath, I turned around in a neighbor’s driveway and pulled into mine. My dad’s car was gone, so I figured he was already at Austin’s house.

“This is so nice,” Kelly said as I led her up the front walk. She stopped to admire the hydrangeas, bending down to touch the silvery leaf of a lamb’s ear plant.

“Thanks.” I unlocked the front door and let her go in first. “Might be a little messy in here. My dad isn’t the neatest housekeeper, and I’ve been gone for a couple days.”

“That’s okay.” As soon as she walked in, my dad’s dog, a German Australian Shepherd mix, came rushing over, excited about visitors. Kelly laughed, bending down to give him some love. “Hi, cutie. What’s your name?”

“Fritz,” I told her, shutting the door behind us.

“Hi, Fritz.” She scratched behind his ears while he licked her knees and I tried not to be jealous of a dog. “What a handsome boy.”

“Do you have a dog?” I asked.

“No. I want to get one, but my mom has bad allergies and she lives with me. Maybe someday. Kevin and I always wanted a dog.” She began to wander through the rooms on the first floor, and Fritz stuck close to her side, completely devoted.

Trailing them from the dining room through the kitchen into the living room, I found myself slightly self-conscious about the well-worn furniture, the frayed carpet, the outdated appliances, the faded photos on the walls. For someone like her, who probably had a big fancy Nashville mansion, would a place like this seem shabby and run-down?

But Kelly seemed charmed, spinning in a slow circle in front of the fireplace. “What a great house to grow up in. It’s so warm and homey. Were you close to your siblings?”

“Yeah. We’re still pretty close.”

She smiled as she looked closer at a family photo from Austin’s high school graduation. Taking the frame off the mantel, she studied it. “So tell me who’s who.”

Standing slightly behind her, I pointed at each person. “That’s my dad and older brother, Austin. That’s me—I’m the tallest—and then my brother Devlin has the cast on his arm, my brother Dash has the blond hair, and Mabel is there in the front.”

“So cute.” She laughed softly. “You’re so skinny. And it’s funny to see you without the beard.”

“Yeah, I didn’t pack on any meat until later.” I could smell her perfume again. It reminded me of a dessert I loved. Strawberry shortcake maybe. Or peach cobbler. Something sweet and summery.

She set the graduation photo down and picked up one that had been taken much earlier. “Is that your mom?”

“Yes.” It was probably the last good picture of her before she got sick. She stood in the yard with Mabel on one hip, smiling broadly, the light catching the extraordinary blue of her eyes.

“She was really beautiful,” Kelly remarked.

“She was.”

Setting the photo carefully back on the mantel, she pointed at a wedding portrait of my parents. “Wow. You lookjustlike your dad here.”

“You think so?”

“Definitely. How old is he there?”

“I think he was about thirty when they got married.”