breaking up a fight and had finished his shift before going to the hospital. He’d been dumped once, a long time ago in college, and never told a soul. So it wasn’t hard to continue to stare at her and not let her know what he was thinking. But inside, he reeled from the blow. As simple as that. She wasn’t interested. Thanks but no thanks.
“No problem,” he said, shoving his hands into his pockets.
She sighed. “I don’t mean to be cruel or rude. I appreciate everything you’ve done for me. Bringing Travis and Austin to help, working around here, all of that. It’s been great. But you and I have nothing in common. It would be best if we were just neighbors.”
“Sandy, I understand. You don’t have to give me a reason.”
“But I want to. I want you to know it’s not personal.”
It felt pretty damn personal to him. She was calling the game on account of rain and he hadn’t even got to bat.
She walked over to the trash bag by the entrance to the foyer and dumped the deli papers inside. “I’m not your type, and you’re not mine,” she told him.
What was her type? Someone like her late husband? Thomas, the philosophy professor. Someone intellectual. Someone who preferred opera to football, thick nonfiction books with footnotes to the latest spy thriller. Someone steady and dependable. Someone not like him.
“I hate for you to feel responsible for us. You don’t have to keep coming over here and taking care of things. I’m really okay on my own.”
In other words, get lost.
“I think you’re right,” he said.
“You do?” She looked doubtful.
“Sure. We’ll be neighbors. Friends. We can look out for each other, but pretty much stay out of each other’s lives. It’s a good plan.”
“Great.” She smiled.
He thought his heart might start bleeding right then and there, but he didn’t let on. Instead, he headed for the stairs. Friends. Neighbors. He’d sure lost his touch. He’d been thinking romance and she’d been putting him in the same class as the neighborhood golden retriever. Friends. What would Sandy say if she knew he’d been thinking, as well as friends they could also be lovers?
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