Sal wasn’t used to being called annoying by women. No, usually the adjectives they used for him were much more complimentary.
“Look, thanks for the help. I really do appreciate it. Now I’m gonna limp to my car, head home and maybe take a good, long soak in my terrible tub.” She wrinkled her freckled nose. “Ugh, I can’t fit my upper body and my lower half in at the same time, though, too tall. So I’ve gotta stick my legs up in the air and rest my heels against the tile or just sit when my entire upper half out of the warm water. Lame. Maybe I’ll just haul my old shower-stool out of my lil’ storage thing in the basement and sit awhile.”
“You can’t fit into the tub?” Sal didn’t know why he’d been reduced to repeating her phrases or using such short sentences, but she didn’t seem to notice.
“Nah, too tall and the thing is shallow as it is. Anyway, guess I better get going.”
On instinct, Sal took a step forward and offered his arm. But apparently Nova hadn’t expected that, because she jumped down from her perch, landing right in front of him.
“Whoa there!” she yelped, swaying.
Those instincts kept right on going and the arm he had meant to offer her for balance wrapped around her waist to steady her again, feeling the muscles of her back correct themselves as she regained her balance on one foot.
He could feel the blush rising up his face, making his cheeks hot as he was suddenly acutely aware of her form barely an inch away from him, the heat of her, the rise and fall of her chest with her breathing. She really was beautiful, in a sort of strong, rooted way.
And he could smell her too. There was the mixture of rain and mud, of course, but something sweeter and softer floating above it. Was it jasmine? Roses? He couldn’t tell, but it hooked his attention, making him want to bury his nose in her hair and figure out exactly what it was.
He didn’t do that, of course. He was sure she wouldn’t react well to that. But he did freeze, his mind spinning as it collected thousands of little details.
“Uh… thanks, but I’m good,” Nova said coolly, taking a limping step to the side and around him.
He dropped his arm immediately, embarrassed by his reaction, but the woman didn’t even seem to notice. She gave him a sort of half-salute and headed back out into the rain, limping along like it was completely normal. As he watched her go, he couldn’t help but wonder what the heck was going on with him.
11
Nova
Nova was baking.
Nova never baked, as it was something that her mum had forced onto her because “a lady should know how to bake.” She was beside herself that she was making a batch of chocolate chip cookies and cupcakes.
And the whole reason she was flexing her culinary skill was because she was going to give the whole lot of sweets to Sal.
Sure, maybe she didn’t really like him that much, and maybe approaching him on her own made her nervous, but he helped her fix her knee and also got her someplace safe so she could dry off enough to take care of herself. Baking him something seemed like the right thing to do.
Because while Nova knew she was stubborn and maybe too quick to judge, one thing that no one could ever call her was ungrateful.
Nope, that was not on her character card, and it never was going to be, so Mr. Salvatore Miller was going to get his thank-you sweets and he was going to like them.
Nova nodded to herself and finished up the last of the steps with the frosting. By the time she was done with that—and had surfed on her phone a little—it was time to take the cookies out and set them aside to cool. Once that was done to her satisfaction, she shut everything down and headed out to PT, steps still uneven from how swollen and unhappy her knee was.
It was a beautiful day as she hobbled in, and she realized something while approaching the desk. For the first time in ages, she didn’t have to worry about her bank account overdrafting. Thanks to her new job, she was basically rolling in money. Or at least, rolling in it compared to how she’d had to penny-pinch for years. It was a nice feeling, that was for certain. And hopefully that nice feeling was going to carry her through her PT session—because she had a feeling she was going to really be put through her paces because of the most recent incident.
She was absolutely right.
Her physical therapist was not happy to hear what had happened, and after looking at her knee, he had heat packs on it for twenty minutes before doing some electric stimulation. After that, it was so many stretches and tests to find out if there was a new muscle group acting up and causing the multiple dislocations.
It was a lot, a whole lot. Once more, Nova found herself breathing hard and flopping back on one of the mats as she worked through an exercise that involved her sticking her injured leg up in the air and trying to rotate her ankle and flexing her foot in strange ways. She felt like she shouldn’t be so exhausted from what basically equated to a junior’s version of a yoga class, but she was definitely feeling that.
“Oh, hello there again. Could you use some water?”
Nova removed her arm from over her eyes to see that the same older woman she’d met at a previous session was standing a bit away from her, with a cool water bottle at the ready. If there was one thing that Nova really liked about Texas, it was that people were quick to offer up some cool hydration as a sign of hospitality.
“Oh, yes, thank you.”
“It’s getting hotter every day, it feels like,” the woman continued, handing off the drink and sitting carefully down on the mat herself. Nova wasn’t quite sure what to think as she watched the relatively limber woman go through stretches as well. The young woman was used to seeing the elderly be much more… well, frail.
“Something like that. Thank you for the water. I thought I was going to have to drag myself to the fountain for a refill.”
“We couldn’t have that, now could we?” she said, a broad smile deepening the wrinkles around her eyes and making her just about the most welcoming sight Nova had seen in a while.
“Apparently not,” Nova answered, feeling herself smile in return. Water bottle drained, she flopped back down, her breathing settling as she figured out how she felt about the whole Sal thing.
And by the whole Sal thing, she mostly meant how her mind kept flicking back to how strong he’d felt, lifting her like it was nothing, and that annoying image of his muscles glistening in the sun. Really, what was she, some sort of teenager?
“You look like something is on your mind.”
“Do I?”
“Sure. But also, I have a knack for that sort of thing.”
“You have a knack for telling when people are thinking?”
“I have a knack for telling when people are troubled.”
“Ah.” Nova sat up, looking over the woman again. She seemed to be a normal elderly lady. “It’s silly.”
“Tell me anyway.”
“Well… it’s kind of complicated.”
“Complicated and silly? Sounds quite confusing.” Her tone was just on the edge of teasing and it made Nova smile, the bundle of anxiety in her chest unraveling.
“Okay, so I know this guy.”
“A guy, huh? So is this a matter of heart instead of your head?”