her to wrench out of his grasp, but she surprised him by gently squeezing his hand. “I wish you saw yourself the way I see you.”
David felt her words like a vise clamping around his heart. The ways this woman could wreck him boggled his mind. Pulling away from her, he took several long steps toward the back hallway. “Rhett, you almost ready?” he called up the stairs.
“Coming,” the boy shouted as his small feet pounded down the steps. He bounded into the hallway, the ever-present blue dog tucked against his side.
“Shoes, buddy,” David said softly. His nephew had a habit of putting his shoes on the wrong feet.
With a sigh, Rhett dropped to the floor and undid the Velcro straps of his superhero sneakers and switched them to the correct feet. David’s heart squeezed even harder as Rhett’s tongue darted out the corner of his mouth. It meant he was concentrating hard and was the same quirk Jenna’d had as a girl.
David ruffled Rhett’s hair as he stood. “Listen to Ms. MacDonald and do what she says,” he told the boy. “No trouble.”
“Okay.”
He turned and looked at Erin, but her attention was focused on Rhett. “I’m glad you’re coming with me this morning,” she said.
Rhett gave a sharp nod and inched forward.
“I need another hour or so to get things settled here,” David told her. “I’ll pick him up after that.”
“No rush,” she answered, but still didn’t look at him. “We’ll stay busy.”
He’d been the one to pull away a few minutes ago, but now the distance separating them seemed wider than simply physical space. It felt like he was losing something that had never belonged to him in the first place. The sensation made him want to throw a tantrum, like a baby whose favorite toy was taken away.
Erin held out her hand to Rhett, and the boy placed his smaller one in it. They walked out the open door and disappeared into the cool autumn morning.
David stood in his empty bar, staring at the dust motes that floated through the rays of sun shining in from the bar’s front windows. He’d never minded being alone before. Why did it feel so damn uncomfortable now?
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