Meet Me Halfway(25)

Sarah smiled, and it lit up her entire face. Sporting wrinkled clothes and smeared makeup, yet she was somehow still gorgeous. She hooked a manicured thumb over her shoulder at the man who’d had his arm around her. “That’s my husband, Harold.”

Harold let out an irritated grunt that had her erupting in giggles, and I wondered if she was maybe still a little tipsy. Unfortunate brother-in-law aside, I decided I liked her, and I knew Layla certainly would.

“He’d prefer it if you called him Harry.” Her eyes twinkled, and I couldn’t help but smile back.

Dropping her gaze to Jamie, she asked, “And who’s this strapping young man in front of you?”

I’d been prepared for the question and immediately slapped bricks down, building up my defensive wall with superhuman speed so my disappointment at her response wouldn’t show on my face. I wasn’t ashamed of Jamie, not even a little, but that didn’t mean it was always easy to stomach responses with a smile on my face.

“This is my son, Jamie.” I gave his shoulder a small pat and waited for it—the slight nose curl most people did without even realizing it. But it never came. In fact, she didn’t react at all besides reaching a hand toward him to shake.

It was Garrett who caught my eye. His double-take was subtle enough that I would’ve thought I’d imagined it if it weren’t for his face. It was like I’d told him the earth was square.

His eyes widened, deep creases appearing across his forehead as his brows rose. His arms fell slack to his sides, and he darted his gaze back and forth between Jamie and me.

I could’ve guessed word for word what was going through his brain. He was calculating, adding and subtracting our apparent ages, trying to figure out if I looked younger than I was or if Jamie looked older.

“Garrett, why didn’t you tell me you had such a handsome neighbor?” Sarah asked, winking at Jamie, and my heart warmed at the open smile he gave her. She’d made his entire day with that comment alone, and I was tempted to hug her.

Garrett sighed in the way all people did when their siblings were being annoying as hell. He looked to Harry for help, but Harry only chuckled, clearly not tempted to help him out at all.

Accepting defeat, Garrett walked forward until he was even with her and looked down at Jamie. “It’s nice to meet you, Jamie.”

Then he smiled—a small one, no more than a tilt of the lips—but it morphed his entire face, relaxing the harsh edges and exposing the barest hint of dimples.

I gripped Jamie’s shoulders to keep myself from stepping forward in a daze. Garrett’s smile was like the fucking sun, sucking me into its gravitational pull against my will. I was pretty sure my panties disintegrated on the spot. The man had fucking dimples.

In hindsight, I should’ve known better and paid more attention to my reaction. Jamie, more aware than I ever wanted him to have to be, took my snug grip as a sign that I was uncomfortable. The grin he’d given Sarah disappeared, and he openly glared at Garrett, muttering the most unfriendly hello ever to be released into the world.

But instead of looking insulted, Garrett appraised him. He roved his eyes over his face with a contemplative look, and I fidgeted, wondering what he saw. Could he see the stress radiating from Jamie’s small body, the fight response vibrating just under his skin?

Garrett’s eyes finally twitched the tiniest bit, and then they snapped up to me. For the first time since meeting him, he seemed to see me, and the fluttering sensation occurring in my middle in response was a clear indication it was time to go.

I looked to Sarah, who was watching us with a devilish smirk on her face, and tipped my head toward my vehicle. “It really was nice meeting you, but we need to head out.”

Her hand went to her chest, worry lines gracing her face. “I’m a talker, I’m so sorry, I hope I didn’t make you late.”

I gave Jamie a gentle push, whispering for him to buckle in. “No, no. I don’t have a set time this morning, I just have to get in a required number of hours, and I can’t afford to be late tonight.”

Garrett’s mouth opened and then snapped shut, the muscles in his jaw flexing as he re-crossed his arms.

“All right, well, bye.” I gave a wave, circling back around the Jeep and climbing in. Knowing Jamie was watching me, I reined in the natural urge to grip the steering wheel and backed out of the drive.

I waited patiently for the mini explosion that was coming, and I didn’t have to wait long. We’d barely made it to the end of our road when he detonated.

“Why did he talk to you?”

“You don’t think people would want to talk to me? I’m cool.” Yep, I was deflecting like it was dodgeball.

“No. He was being nosy. He shouldn’t be asking about your work.”

I flicked my eyes up to the rearview mirror. He was staring out the window, hands clenched in his lap, and his face was strained. “He lives next door, bud, he was trying to be friendly.”

“He didn’t look friendly.”

“Honestly, I think that’s just his face. You know how Layla tells me I always look angry when I zone out? I think Mr. Garrett suffers from the same thing.”

I glanced up again, but he didn’t crack a smile. “You shouldn’t have told him anything. You should’ve told him to worry about himself, like you tell me all the time.”