ChapterSeven
The following morning, Hadley awoke with a groan.She pressed a hand over her eyes to block out the sunlight blasting her and tried to unglue her cotton-coated tongue from the roof of her mouth.
How much wine had she drunk?
She painfully pushed herself to a sitting position, only then realizing she’d slept on the couch in her clothes.
But how had she…Bryson.
Hadley pressed both palms to her face and collapsed against the cushions behind her, the move banging her brain on the inside of her skull with the force of a sledgehammer.
No, no, no.
What all had she said?
Done?
She remembered dinner…well, feeding him dinner while she’d sipped her wine.She even remembered opening a second bottle.He’d told her about his wife dying and she’d told him… “No,” she whispered, shocked at herself.
She didn’t even know the man and yet she’d spilled her divorce secret to him?That’s when she’d opened the second bottle and they’d kept talking, but things got…fuzzy after that.
A soft knock sounded at the door, and she peeked through her fingers to see a man’s broad form on the other side of the leaded glass inset of the door.
She shoved the throw off of her and stumbled to her feet, fighting off the surge of embarrassment bombarding her.“Wh-who is it?”
“Bryson.I brought coffee.”
The need for instant gratification and damage control made Hadley’s decision for her.She unlocked the dead bolt and squinted at the bright light of day, wondering how he’d managed to lock the door behind himself when he’d left last night.
Bryson’s shrewd gaze ran over her face, and she wrinkled her nose and shielded her gritty eyes.“I apologize.”
“For?”
“Everything.”
He grinned and held out a large cup from London’s Lattes.“Here.”
“God bless you.”
“Feeling it this morning, are you?”
“You have no idea,” she said with a groan.“Why did you let me open that second bottle of wine?”
“You needed to talk and the wine helped you do it.Be thankful I cut you off before you opened a third.”
“I can’t believe… I’m so embarrassed.You probably think I’m a complete lush.”
“We’ve all had our moments.After Tish passed, I had more than my share.”
“It’s still embarrassing.I can’t remember the last time I’ve done that.”
“It’s all good.Look, I have to get to work, but I wanted to see how you were doing and to bring that…oh, and this,” he said, pulling an individual packet of pain reliever from his pocket.“Down those, drink the coffee, and follow it up with lots of water.”
She lifted the cup in a salute before she sipped the coffee and welcomed the jolt of clarity.“How much did I say?”
Bryson grinned again and her face flamed with heat.“Oh,pickles.Shoot me now,” she said, trudging across the floor to the couch.“I’msorry.”
“Stop apologizing.You needed to vent, and from the sounds of it, you’ve kept an awful lot bottled up for quite some time.I’m sorry your ex is such a jerk.”