“What time is the crew arriving?” she asked.
Daniel glanced at the clock on his phone. “In about an hour and a half. I told them to get here around nine o’clock. Why?”
“Are you going to the hospital before they arrive?”
“Since Aidan is stable, I thought I’d wait and go at noon.”
There it was again. She sensed him tense up ever so slightly. “Then that leaves plenty of time for a quick walk. I love Forsyth Park in the morning. Will you walk with me? It would do us both some good to get some fresh air. I can fill up a couple of to-go cups to take with us.”
She took down two travel mugs from the cupboard. He liked his coffee black. She remembered that from the hospital yesterday. So much had changed since yesterday. It felt like months. She knew his kiss, the feel of his lips on hers and his hands on her body, but there was so much more she didn’t know about this man.
Pouring a cup of coffee for a man in the morning suddenly seemed very intimate. For a moment the image of Daniel lying next to her in bed, naked and sleep-warmed as morning light streamed in through the window played out like a movie in her mind. Even though her better judgment screamed foul, she could not unsee—unfeel—this vision. Even though she knew it was futile because her time in Savannah was temporary. She was going back to Atlanta...eventually.
She tried to ignore the voice that said, Since you’re leaving...what could a fling hurt? Get him out of your system.
She blinked away the thought.
“I could definitely use a cup right now,” he said.
She poured the steaming liquid into two cups...naked in bed drinking coffee the morning after a night of good sex.
What would it be like to be with Daniel?
Stop.
Not going to happen.
Until it does.
They headed out the kitchen door and walked up Hall Street toward Forsyth Park. The light was that soft-filtered silver and liquid gold that streamed through the Spanish moss and dripped through the live oak branches making the park with its Christmas decorations look ethereal. It was pleasantly warm so they didn’t need jackets and just humid enough to make the breeze feel like a caress.
“This is my favorite time of day,” she said, breaking the silence when they reached Whitaker Street and paused for the burst of traffic to pass on the one-way street.
“It’s nice,” he said. “My office is in an old Victorian on the other side of the park. I like to run in the park before work. There’s a full bath so I can shower and get ready for the day. So, you’re an early morning person, too?”
“As a teacher, I don’t really have a choice.”
“Do you like teaching art?” Her gut tightened at the reminder that she no longer had a job teaching art. She steered him toward the Forsyth Park Garden of Fragrance, which was one of her favorite spots. Located on the west side of the park, a few yards away from the fountain, the fragrant garden was surrounded by walls on three sides with an ornate iron gate along the front.
“It’s...fun,” she said as she pushed open the iron gates and stepped inside.
“But?”
“But what?” She settled on the stone bench. Daniel sat beside her. His thigh touching hers.
“Your answer had a but on the end. It’s fun...but,” he said.
“I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t have to. It was implied by your voice.”
“You’re perceptive. But the situation is a little complicated.”
“So, tell me about it,” he said. “I can handle complicated.”
She bit her bottom lip. “I’m sure you can, but that’s not why I asked you to walk with me.”
“Uh-oh. That sounds ominous.”
She smiled. “I’ll make a deal with you. If you’ll tell me why you don’t want to go to the hospital, I’ll tell you why my situation is complicated.”
He tensed again. His leg pulled away from hers as he focused on the rim of his cup. “What makes you think I don’t want to go to the hospital?”
“First of all, because you won’t look at me when we talk about Aidan and the hospital.”
He locked gazes with her. “I’m looking at you.”
He was afraid. She could see it in his eyes. She shifted so that she was turned toward him and her knee was touching his. “Mostly, because every time I’ve mentioned the hospital you look terrified, like you want to bolt.”