A Winter Wedding(51)

But any interaction would make things worse. She was trying to engage him. So, resisting actual contact, he pulled to the curb only long enough to put the water heater in the bed of his truck. Then he waved at Prinley Pendergast, who’d come to her door across the street holding one of her children.

When she didn’t respond, just peered out at him as if he might inflict bodily harm on her neighbor, he hopped in his truck and drove off.

He was almost home when he got a text from Noelle. He glanced at it while he was waiting at a stop sign.

What the hell? Did you take my water heater?

His fingers itched to reply. But he kept driving, and when he eventually reached home and parked next to Lourdes’s rental car, he was immediately distracted by the sight of her sitting on his porch all bundled up in the snow gear he’d let her use when they cut down the tree.

Dropping his phone in his pocket without responding to Noelle, he turned off the engine and opened his door. “Isn’t it a little cold to be sitting out on the porch?”

“It’s California,” she said. “I’m making it work.”

With all that down in his jacket, and his hat and gloves, he figured she wasn’t in any real danger.

“Good to see you out of bed,” he told her, “even if it is to sit outside in the cold for no particular reason.”

“I’m trying to reset.”

“And that means...”

“I’m starting over. Embracing the future.”

“I see.”

“You don’t have any Christmas lights up,” she said, studying his eaves. “There aren’t any decorations in the yard, either.”

“There won’t be decorations in my yard until I have kids,” he said. “No point in doing that sort of thing just for myself. I wouldn’t pay any attention to them.”

She zipped his coat up a bit higher. “Does the same go for lights?”

“I don’t feel as strongly about lights. If they’re important to you, we can put them up at the farmhouse.” Anything to make her feel better...

Folding her arms, she sank back, all but disappearing into his coat. “I’m not convinced I want to go to the farmhouse.”

He froze for a second, then locked his truck. Now that he knew Noelle had a key to his house, and she was acting vindictive, he wasn’t going to create an opportunity for her to vandalize his vehicle. He’d get the locksmith out tomorrow, as soon as he finished up with the HVAC guy over at the rental. “What does that mean?” he asked. “Have you decided to go back to Nashville?”

“No. Definitely not.”

He experienced more relief than he should have, which bothered him almost as much as the anger he was feeling toward Noelle. “So you’re going to Angel’s Camp? Or somewhere else?”

“Actually, I was hoping you’d consider taking me on as a roommate.”

He nearly dropped his keys. “You want to stay here?”

She met him halfway down the walk. “Why not? I’ll continue paying on the lease, of course. And if we start to feel crowded or irritated with each other, or I’m not getting enough work done, I’ll move.”

She no longer wanted to be alone.

He was flattered that she felt she could recover with his support. But he wasn’t sure she was as safe with him as she assumed. Olivia or no Olivia, he couldn’t forget the jolt of awareness that’d hit him when Lourdes first stepped out of that rental car. And there’d been other instances when he’d felt the same attraction—like that night he’d had her in his arms.

“Um...”

“You could do the shopping and I could prepare our meals,” she said, trying to entice him. “I’m not much of a cook, but I’d make you a hot dinner to come home to every evening.”

A hot dinner after a day at work sounded nice. It was a luxury he hadn’t enjoyed since he was married. Even then, Noelle hadn’t inconvenienced herself to cook very often.

Besides, the arrangement was temporary, Kyle told himself. For all Lourdes’s talk about being done with Derrick, she could reconcile with him at any time, and that would change her plans completely.

So what was he afraid of? He couldn’t get too caught up with a woman who wouldn’t be around long enough for a relationship to happen...

“Now you’re speaking my language,” he said. “Why not? Sounds like fun.”

Her pretty but troubled eyes searched his. “Are you positive?”

His hesitation had spooked her, made her suspect he might not be too eager to have her around. “Of course,” he said. “I was just worried that you wouldn’t get the privacy you came here to find, but—”

“I feel comfortable with you,” she assured him. “I like it here.”

Having someone to buy her groceries protected her from the curious stares and whispers she’d encounter otherwise. If news of her breakup with Derrick hit the tabloids, she’d have additional reason to avoid the public eye. He wanted to shield her from that kind of attention. But he could always do her shopping if she was living in the farmhouse...

Or...maybe not. If they weren’t under the same roof, it was entirely possible that she wouldn’t feel comfortable calling him up to ask for the little things she needed.