Meet Me Halfway(48)

Adjusting myself into a more comfortable position, I clasped my hands in my lap, looking anywhere but at the man whose crotch I’d just face snuggled.

“You know, your ears turn red when you’re embarrassed.”

I fidgeted, still not looking at him. “They turn red when I feel anything other than apathy. I know. I’ve lived with them for twenty-five years.”

“It’s pretty fucking cute.”

My eyes whipped over to him, my face, neck, and ears now flushing for an entirely different reason. He held out a wrapped sandwich, giving it a playful shake. I accepted his peace offering; I was embarrassed, not insane.

“Okay, I’m up here. Now tell me what you do for a living.” Unwrapping my gift with a flourish, I took a bite, moaning over the gloriousness that was grease on a bun.

I looked over at Garrett, preparing to lather him in my heartfelt thanks as soon as I swallowed, but paused mid-chew at the dark look he was sending my way. Mouth stuffed, I muttered an unattractive, “What?”

He glared down at his lap, brushing off imaginary crumbs. “I do contract work with turbine engines.” His face softened at my blank expression, and he chuckled, “For helicopters and small aircraft. It’s, more or less, the same thing I did in the Marines, just on civilian aircrafts now.”

“That’s pretty cool. Did you ever want to do something else, or do you like it?”

“I like it. Growing up, I wanted to be a pilot, mostly because I wanted the ability to fly my mother somewhere nice.” He pushed his jaw out, as if he’d said something he hadn’t meant to. “Anyway, it’s steady work, and I’m good at it.”

With those hands, I bet he was good at a lot of things. “Well, I’m glad you enjoy what you do, that’s always a good thing.”

He nodded, still looking at me. I pulled my legs up, sitting criss-cross applesauce as I dove back into my food and tried to ignore the feeling of him watching me eat.

“Sarah and Harry are coming to visit tonight.”

It took my brain a second to catch up to the mildly familiar names and random turn of conversation. He was talking about his siblings?

“They’ll be staying over if you’d like to pop by and say hello. I’m pretty sure Sarah fell in love with you the moment she saw you at the restaurant.” He trailed off, taking an overly large bite of his sandwich.

Raising my brows at his weird behavior, I huffed out a laugh. “I’d love to meet them more officially. Actually, I prepared an ungodly amount of chili in the slow cooker this morning if you’d all like to come over for dinner.”

He looked uncomfortable at my offer, but I had a feeling it was over the idea of me feeding everyone rather than the invitation itself.

“We’re usually stuck eating it for a solid week straight, so it’s no big deal. It’s up to you, there will be plenty if you change your mind.”

He considered me for a moment before tipping his head, and we fell into companionable silence as we ate.

Once we’d both finished and polished off the potato wedges, I steeled my spine and looked up at him. I was pretty sure I knew the answer to my question, but I wanted to hear him say it anyway.

“True or false. You came out here with an apology meal as a ploy to check and make sure I was still alive.”

His eyes were pinned to my hand as I brought it to my mouth and licked the salt off the pads of my fingers. He twisted away from me, exhaling and shoving his hands into the front pocket of his hoodie.

“True.”





I could get used to this. It was still early evening, and I’d had time to shower, dry my hair, find something decent to wear, put a dash of makeup on, and prepare appetizers to go along with the simmering chili.

I’d felt sheepish when I’d called out at the restaurant, but I couldn’t claim not to be loving every second of my free Saturday night. I felt like a real human being for once, and it felt good.

“Will you grab my pop out of the fridge and toss it to me?”

I looked up from the stove, “No, but I can grab your soda if you’d like.” I smirked as Layla raised her arm and flipped me off behind her head. Pop, soda, purse, pocketbook. I’d been on the east coast long enough that I was used to the differences in terms here versus the Midwest, but it drove Layla nuts. I made it a habit to annoy the hell out of her with them any chance I could.

She and her boyfriend, Rick, were currently cuddled up on the couch, watching some sci-fi movie he brought while I finished up dinner. I switched off the stovetop burner and pulled open the fridge to grab her drink. A pair of giant ass eyes stared back at me from the center shelf, and I cursed.

“Seriously, Layla? The fridge?” Witch-like laughter met my ears, and I glared over the bar, launching the toy at her.

A few years ago, she and I had each started a collection of these creepy, bug-eyed stuffed animals. We’d randomly found one at a gas station once and had both continued buying them. I couldn’t remember who’d started it, but not long after she moved in, we’d made it a game to hide them around the house, scaring the shit out of each other with them. Lately, she’d been one-upping me.

I shook my head, glancing toward my front door for the hundredth time. I don’t know why I was so nervous about meeting Garrett’s family again, but I was. And honestly, I was more than a little excited to have people over. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d hung out with a group of people who weren’t family members—or over the age of eight.