I glanced down and saw a rehab pamphlet between the seats. When he was inside the truck, I picked it up. “Did Lily come home?” I asked him.
He simply nodded.
I started to put the pamphlet down, thinking it bothered him that I had seen it. He glanced at it then looked at me. “You can look at it. That’s a new one she’s not been to before.”
It was in Washington. That was so far from here. I wondered if she always went that far or if this was something the doctor thought was a good idea.
“She swears she will be better. I’m just torn about trusting her. I don’t want to make the wrong decision.”
I couldn’t imagine that kind of pressure. It was his mom’s life and he had to decide what was best for her. That kind of responsibility shouldn’t come until she was elderly and could no longer live alone. And yet he had been doing it since he was a teenager. Had he even had a chance to be a kid?
I glanced at him as he drove and wished, once again, I could help him. I also feared just how much I cared about him. The more I was around him and the more I got to know him, I let a little more of my guard down. How long would it take for me to have nothing left to protect myself? And did I care about that anymore? Would it be so wrong if I did fall in love with Saul? Maybe it was time I wasn’t so careful… this could be my chance to truly let go and just live.
Twenty-Two
Rio was sitting on the massive sectional sofa with a bag of chips and the television remote in his hand when we walked into the living area. He looked up at us and then grinned. I returned his smile and Saul’s hand touched my lower back. I wasn’t sure if it was some sign of possession or warning to Rio. I had thought after the information about us possibly being siblings, Saul understood our relationship.
“You want something to drink?” Saul asked me.
“Water is fine,” I told him, wanting any reason to stall from getting changed into my bathing suit.
“I’ll take a beer,” Rio said, flashing his dimpled grin at Saul now.
“You got a problem with your legs?” he shot back.
Rio stretched them out and groaned. “Yeah, they’re killing me.”
“Sure they are,” Saul replied and left my side to walk over to the bar.
“I’m fucking serious! Do you know how many boxes of produce I had to unload the past two days? Pops is trying to kill me through manual labor. You’re at the bar already. You can get me a beer,” Rio told him.
“If you’re serving drinks, I want a Jack,” Drake called out as he walked into the room from a doorway I hadn’t been through and had no idea where it led.
“His legs work fine,” Rio said.
“What? Something’s got to be wrong with my legs for him to get me a drink? He’s at the bar already,” Drake replied. “Hey, Henley,” he added when he saw me.
I lifted a hand in a small wave.
His drink request forgotten, he walked over to the stairs leading up to the second level of the room and leaned on the rail. “You know you can always bring that hot little redhead that works with you at the shop when you come over. I won’t complain and I’ll share with Rio.”
“Jesus, Drake,” Saul said as he walked back my way with a bottle of water in his hand and nothing else.
I thought of the fact that Rio might just be related to Emily and knew I was going to have to deal with that very soon. “I don’t want to share with you, Drake,” Rio called out. “You didn’t get me a beer? Seriously? What has our friendship come to?”
Saul ignored him and his hand returned to my back. “Come on, I’ll show you where you can get changed.”
“So I can’t ask her to hook me up with the redhead?” Drake called out as Saul led me away from the room and to the door that went back to where the stairs were.
“Ignore him. That’s what we do,” Saul said.
“He’s very…” I wasn’t sure the right word to use for him.
“Fucking annoying,” Saul finished for me.
I laughed. “I wasn’t going to say that.”
He led me up the stairs and I saw he was smiling. It wasn’t a big smile, but it was something. I liked to see him smile. He seemed younger and less burdened. He didn’t smile enough.
“You’ll learn soon enough and that is exactly what you will be saying,” Saul informed me.
“Yet he’s one of your best friends and roommate,” I said.
“I had to give in. He was like one of those puppies that won’t go away,” Saul told me as we reached the top of the stairs. He went to the first door on the right and opened it. “You can change in here. Bathroom is that way if you need it.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
He didn’t make a move to leave and I waited, watching him. His eyes were so blue it was easy to get lost in them when his gaze was locked on you. His hand touched my chin then and he brushed my bottom lip with his thumb.
I shivered and stood very still, in hopes he was about to grant me with another of those kisses that made my knees weak. He bent his head and brushed a kiss on the corner of my mouth. “If I kiss you we won’t leave this room,” he whispered near my ear before dropping his hand and walking away.
I held onto the door frame for support for a moment then inhaled and gathered myself before stepping back and closing the door.
“Whew,” I muttered. Every nerve in my body seemed to come to life so easily with Saul.
I looked at the bed in the center of the room and thought about what he had said. I wasn’t so sure I had a problem with not leaving this room. At least my body didn’t. Shaking my head in hopes of clearing it, I sat my bag down on the end of the bed and opened it up to pull out my swimsuit. I hadn’t brought a cover-up, but I did have the large beach towel I could wrap around myself. There was no way I was walking through this house with nothing but my bathing suit covering me.
Quickly I changed and wrapped myself up in the towel in case Saul came back. I didn’t look in the mirror for fear I wouldn’t have the nerve to leave this room. I didn’t look bad in a bathing suit. The turquoise somehow made my pale skin appear attractive, if that was even possible. My body was decent. I just had years of my mother in my head, telling me my flaws and how to fix them.
I folded up my clothing and put it in the bag and picked my bottle of water back up before opening the door. I didn’t see Saul and I wondered if I was supposed to wait here or go back downstairs. After a moment, I decided I’d head down and wait for Saul there.
I could hear Rio and Drake talking about a volleyball game they had planned tomorrow but I didn’t hear Saul. Glancing back at the stairs, I wondered if he was still up there. Standing in the foyer was dumb, so I forced myself to go into the living area. Drake would probably say something that was embarrassing or shocking, but Rio was there. I wouldn’t be alone with him.