She smiled a little as he made his way across the floor with exaggerated tiptoes, setting down as little of his feet as possible. “Where’s Alexis?” he asked, when he made it safely to the wood floor of the living room.
“She’s still at the dance school party. Connie’s bringing her home afterward. She should be home in about an hour.”
“Oh, yeah. I forgot about the party.” He pushed a hand through his hair. “Anything I can do to help you?”
“No, I’m finished.” She set the mop in the laundry room. She wore a soft pair of slippers with her jeans and green, V-neck T-shirt, so she didn’t worry about crossing the damp floor. “How did your study session go today?”
“Pretty well, I think. We got through all the lecture notes from the past week, so we’re caught up for Monday.”
“That’s good. You got a couple of things from the school in today’s mail. I set them on the table.”
“Okay, thanks.”
She’d left a half-finished can of soda sitting on a coaster on the coffee table. She picked it up and took a long swig of the drink that was getting a little warm and flat. She was thirsty enough that it tasted good anyway.
Connor flipped through his mail, then turned to her with a hand at the back of his neck. “You’re sure there’s nothing I can do? Laundry? Run the vacuum, maybe?”
“You did all the laundry yesterday and I’ve already run the vacuum. All I plan to do now is sweep the front porch and then I—”
“I can do that,” he said, moving in that direction.
“Connor, would you stop?” she asked, two weeks of pent-up emotion exploding out of her. “I get it, you’re trying to help around the house more. But to be perfectly frank, you’re getting on my nerves.”
He stumbled to a halt. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“Exactly what I said. I don’t need you to go to such extremes to make things easier for me here. I was taking care of the house perfectly well before you decided you had to ‘repay’ me for my efforts.”
Apparently she wasn’t the only one in whom frustration had been building. He planted his fists on his hips and scowled at her with utter male exasperation. “What the hell do you expect from me? Am I doing too little or too much around here? Are we friends or roommates or more? Damn it, I need you to tell me what you want.”
“What I want is for you to—” She swallowed the words with a muttered curse when the front doorbell jangled stridently to interrupt her.
“I’ll see who that is,” she snapped, turning. “But you and I are going to have to finish this.”
“Damn straight we are,” he muttered, crossing his arms with a mulish expression.
She opened the door without checking to see who stood on the other side, then reached out quickly to unlock the storm door. Her heart began to pound in dread. “Paul? What’s wrong? What’s happened?”
Her brother reached out to catch her arm, his grave expression leaving no doubt that he hadn’t brought good news. “I came to get you. Dad’s had a heart attack. He’s in the hospital in Hot Springs. Mom wants you to come.”
Her own chest ached so much that it was hard to draw a breath. Dazed, she turned to Connor. “I—”
Connor was already moving toward her, concern for her softening his eyes. “Go throw some clothes in a bag,” he said gently. “Is there anything I can do?”
“I don’t—Alexis—”
“Alexis will be fine,” he assured her. “Go be with your family.”
It took her less than fifteen minutes to pack. She wasn’t even sure what she’d grabbed out of her closet, but she thought she had enough to get by for a few days. Paul was waiting impatiently when she returned to the living room. He grabbed her bag and told her he’d be in the car.
“I’ll just get my purse. Two minutes,” Mia promised unsteadily.
Her brother nodded, shook Connor’s hand, then let himself out.
Connor handed Mia her purse. “Your cell phone was on the counter. I stuck it in the pocket inside your bag.”
“Thank you. Are you sure—”
“I’m sure we’ll be fine,” he promised, smoothing her hair away from her face with one hand as he gazed down at her. “I hope everything is okay with your dad, Mia.”