Moonlight Over Manhattan(45)
She was the one who was unpicking each element of the situation and analyzing it until her brain hurt.
She was the one with the problem.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
ETHAN FOLLOWED HARRIET out into the street, for once glad of the cold air.
The elevator had felt stifling, or maybe the heat had come from inside him. He wasn’t sure. All he knew was that his height had given him a perfect view of Harriet’s hair. It spilled over her shoulders in a subtle blend of pale gold and buttermilk, reminding him of long, lazy summers growing up when his priority had been to do nothing.
Right now he would have been happy to do nothing with Harriet.
The thought startled him. Not just the doing nothing part, which would in itself have been enough to make those who knew him raise an eyebrow, but that she would have been his choice of companion.
She chose that moment to look at him. “What? Why the frown?”
“It’s colder than I thought it would be.” He said the first thing that came into his head, although in fact it was the second thing. Because she’d been the first thing. He’d been thinking about how her cheeks dimpled when she smiled, and how shiny her hair was under the lights of the elevator. He’d been thinking about how her eyes had blazed when she’d confronted him, how patient she was with Madi, and how the food she’d made had been the best thing he’d ever eaten. “Really cold.”
He turned up the collar of his coat in support of his statement about the cold. And it was cold. There was no way he’d be caught in a lie.
“Wasn’t it cold a few hours ago?”
She obviously thought his behavior was strange.
He thought it was strange too.
He knew she was still feeling awkward around him.
He knew that was entirely his fault.
He also knew that the edge of awareness he felt when he was with her was something he was going to keep to himself. He and Alison had been similar in many ways, which was why when they drifted in and out of their ill-fated marriage, neither of them had been hurt. The fact that their separation hadn’t left so much as a bruise on either of them showed the depth of feeling involved.
Harriet wasn’t like that. He suspected she was the type of woman who bruised easily, which meant he needed to keep well away from her.
They walked along the snowy streets, their breaths clouding the freezing air. This part of Manhattan had a small, intimate feel. Snow fell like frozen confetti, muffling street noise and carpeting the cobbled streets. In this part of the street the trees reached across and touched each other, street lamps bathing the snow with an ethereal glow.
She walked with purpose and confidence, jeans tucked into her snow boots. He decided he preferred her like this to all dressed up in stilettos. Not because he particularly cared what she wore, but because it was obvious she cared. She seemed comfortable. A thousand times more comfortable than that night he’d first met her.
“It looks like a Christmas card.” She paused under the light from the street lamp and took a photograph, then turned the camera toward Madi and took a photo of the dog. “I’ll send that to Debra.”
“You’re sending her a photo of her dog?”
“Of course.” She fiddled with her phone, her lower lip caught between her teeth as she concentrated. “All our clients love to see what their dogs are doing when they’re away, and a photo is so much stronger than words.”
“That photo will tell her I’m not taking good care of her dog.”
She pushed her phone back into her pocket and looked up. “Not true. It will tell her you’re taking excellent care of her dog.”
“The fact that you’re involved tells her I couldn’t cope.”
“The fact that I’m involved tells her you cared enough about Madi’s welfare to call me. She’ll be impressed.”
Ethan wasn’t convinced. He thought his sister was more likely to roll her eyes and make some comment about the fact that he was in charge of people’s lives, and yet couldn’t take care of one little dog.
He was also aware that once Debra discovered Harriet was staying in his apartment, he would be a target for more of her matchmaking efforts. His sister might not be as slick as a dating app, he thought, but she was a lot harder to delete.
Aware that he could no longer feel his fingers, he thrust his hands into his pockets. “Are you always this positive?”
“Is it being positive? I see it as the truth.” She paused. “In the ER your job is to determine what a patient needs, is that right? So if a patient has a brain injury you don’t handle it yourself, you call the expert in that specialty.”
“That’s right.”
“This is no different.” She waited as Madi sniffed the snow. “You called an expert. Not that I’m comparing myself to a neurosurgeon, you understand. I’m guessing you must see some pretty gross things.”
“Gross is all a matter of interpretation.” He watched as she cleaned up after Madi. “What you’re doing now is pretty gross.”
“It’s part of responsible dog ownership. Have you ever had anything come into the ER that you couldn’t deal with?”
“It’s my job to deal with it, just as it’s your job to deal with all dogs, even one you find challenging.”