Keeping my eyes on the road, I thought back to her reaction and the look on her face after I’d explained it was the one she’d given me.
“Like I said, she didn’t realize it was the same one from back then, to begin with, but once she did, it was like it soothed some of the rawness inside her.”
“That’s good, man,” he murmured. “She needs someone who can do that for her.”
And I wanted to be that someone badly. I’d wanted it ever since I’d moved here over two and a half years ago. Knowing Naomi was finding her feet as a parent and because of Shanti, I’d given her time, but I could feel my self-control fraying now.
Because I knew I could trust Alex and he’d been in my shoes, I explained how I was feeling to him, then asked, “How do I let her know I want to be with her without freaking her out or fucking it all up?”
“That’s a tough one, Carter, because no two circumstances are ever the same. What I would say, though, is that, from what I can see, you don’t have much to worry about. You’ve taken it slowly, and you’ve also formed a bond with Shanti, and that’s the most important thing here. Now, you just need to slowly change how you approach your relationship with Naomi and read her signals.”
His reply frustrated me. “How do I do that? Jesus, Alex, I feel like I’m drowning here. I’m scared to change my approach in case she doesn’t want it, and I fuck it all up, and lose them both.”
I couldn’t even think about not having Naomi and Shanti in my life.
Making a humming noise, Alex drummed his fingers on the door for a moment. I could only hope it helped him commune with whatever spirits he needed to come up with an answer for me. General advice—while valuable—wasn’t going to help me out with my predicament.
Finally, it came to him. “Okay. I get what you’re saying and why you’re worried, but you’ve both been living in Piersville for three years now.”
“Just over two and a half for me,” I corrected.
“You’ve seen the drama and bullshit in all of our lives firsthand, and you’ve helped us through it. From that, haven’t you seen anything that’ll give you an idea on how to approach this?”
He had a point. “I have.”
“Right. So, let’s look at it this way: I’ve watched you with them, and you all have, like, a magnetic pull to each other. Just the other day, Naomi brought Shanti in, and from the second she pulled up, that little girl was bouncing and excited to see you. You heard her voice and jogged through the station like you hadn’t seen her in months. Also, when that shit went down with Terry Bailey, you were texting Naomi through it to make sure she was okay in the panic room.”
“Because I was worried it would trigger her claustrophobia.”
“Exactly. There was live ammunition around you, man, but you still made sure she was okay.”
“Wouldn’t any decent human being do that, though?”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him angle toward me slightly. “Were you doing it to be a decent human being?”
Shit. “Touché.”
“What I’m saying, Carter, is that you have a great status quo with both of them and vice versa. All you need to do now is make your intentions clear to her—”
“Jesus, Alex,” I choked out as I took the turning into the entrance to Bates’ Retirement Home. “It’s not like it’s 1870, and I’m courting her.”
Instead of laughing, he just shrugged. “Why not? She’s got more to lose by jumping headfirst into a relationship because she’s got a kid, so courting her might be an idea.”
Pulling into a space and cutting the engine, I bought myself a few seconds by rubbing my chin before I answered. “You might be right. I could woo her.”
“Damn right you can. You might even find that’s what you’ve been doing since you moved here,” Alex snickered as he got out. Joining him at the front of the vehicle, we both stared at the building and sighed. “If it weren’t for your pretty face and the effect it has on these old biddies, I’d say this was going to be a freaking nightmare.”
I couldn’t exactly say why the women here liked me as much as they did, and it was a pain in the ass because it meant I got most of the callouts to the place now, but it did help settle them down more quickly than before, so there was that.
Staying behind Alex while he got a rundown from one of the ladies who worked at the home, I half listened and planned what to do with Naomi and Shanti.
They came as a pair, so while I had to woo Naomi romantically, I also had to woo Shanti, so she understood I wasn’t leaving her out of things. Far from it. I wanted the package deal with both of them. Shit, I even wanted pancake mornings with Shanti or ice cream runs.