Date Next Door

“Hmm.”

She wasn’t sure what she was supposed to read into that sound, but she hastily moved on. “Have you talked to your family lately?”

“Actually, yes. Ethan called this morning.”

“Yeah? How’s he doing?”

“It was kind of an odd call, actually. He asked me if I was aware that he’d never visited me here.”

Nic cleared her throat. “Did he?”

“Mmm. I told him he was welcome to come anytime, of course. He said he might just do that in a couple of months.”

“I think that’s good. He should know what your life is like here.”

“You didn’t have anything to do with his sudden realization, did you?”

“I, um…”

“Nic?”

She sighed. “Okay, maybe I mentioned to him that I noticed none of your family has visited you here.”

“Well, it’s easier for me to go there than for all of them to come here,” Joel said logically.

“Still, they seem to make a lot of assumptions about your life without actually seeing it for themselves. Ethan didn’t even know you paint watercolors.”

Joel flushed. “I don’t mention that to many people. I’m not all that good. It’s just something I do to relax.”

“I think you’re very good,” she said loyally. “That painting you did of the Old Mill in North Little Rock? It’s really beautiful.”

“You like that one?” He looked pleased.

“It’s my favorite.”

“Thank you.”

She nodded. “You’re welcome.”

Her phone rang, and she answered it expecting to hear Aislinn on the other end. Instead it was one of her coworkers, one of the other female officers on the local force, making sure Nic would really be back at work the next day.

Carrying the phone into the kitchen so that Joel could watch the ball game undisturbed, Nic spent the next twenty minutes chatting, catching up on everything she’d missed during the past week and laughing at her friend’s stories. By the time she hung up, she was even more eager than before to get back to work.

“Sorry,” she said to Joel as she walked back into the living room. “That was Sandy, from work.”

“No problem. I guess your coworkers are ready to have you back.”

“As a matter of fact, they are.”

“You’ll be careful, won’t you? I mean, you’ve just gotten over a concussion.”

She smiled and patted his arm. “I’m always careful. You know that.”

He gave her a look of disbelief. “Hence the six stitches I just pulled out of your chin.”

Laughing, she wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned into him. “Are you worried about me, Brannon?”

He pulled her onto his lap, but his smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Yes, I am.”