I hurried after him, catching him on the porch.
“What do I say to Waylay?”
I didn’t know where the question had come from or the panicky note in my voice. I wasn’t a panicker. I performed miracles under pressure.
“What do you mean what do you say?”
“What do I tell her about her mom and me and why we’re here?”
“Tell her the truth.”
“I’m not sure what that is.”
He started down the porch steps, and again, panic clawed at my throat. The only man I knew in this town was abandoning me with a child I didn’t know, no transportation, and only the crap my sister hadn’t stolen from me.
“Knox!”
He stopped again and swore. “Christ, Naomi. Tell her her mom left her with you, and you’re looking forward to getting to know her. Don’t make it more complicated than it has to be.”
“What if she asks when Tina’s coming back? What if she doesn’t want to stay with me? Oh, God. How do I make her listen to me?”
He stepped back up onto the porch and into my space, then did something I never saw coming.
He grinned. Full-on, panty-melting, 100-percent-wattage grinned.
I felt woozy and hot and like I didn’t know how any of my joints worked anymore.
“Wow,” I whispered.
“Wow what?” he asked.
“Uh… You smiled. And it was just seriously wow. I had no idea you could look like that. I mean, you already look like…” I waved my hand awkwardly in front of him. “You know. But then you add the smile, and you look almost human.”
His smile was gone, and the familiar annoyance was back. “Jesus, Daisy. Get some sleep. You’re babbling like an idiot.”
I didn’t wait to watch him drive away. Instead I went back inside and closed the door. “Now what the hell am I going to do?”
Sleep deserted me abruptly, leaving behind a groggy, panicked confusion.
I was facedown on a bare mattress, a scrub brush still clutched in one hand. The room slowly came into focus as my eyes and brain returned to the land of the living.
Warner. Grr.
Tina. Ugh.
Car. Damn it.
Waylay. Holy crap.
Cottage. Adorable.
Knox. Grumpy, sexy, horrible, yet helpful.
The timeline of the last twenty-four hours intact, I pried myself off the mattress and sat up.
The room was small, but cute just like the rest of the place. Paneled walls painted a bright white, antique brass bed. There was a tall dresser opposite the bed and a skinny table painted peacock blue tucked under the window that overlooked the meandering creek.
I heard someone humming downstairs and remembered.