Passion in Bloom (Hometown Heartstrings #2)

Chapter 17

Heather

A s soon as the words left my mouth, I wondered if I’d lost my damn mind.

What am I thinking?

It seemed I wasn’t thinking at all. Between my mind being blown from sex with Roarke, then the instant shift into damage control as his house turned into an indoor waterpark, my brain hadn’t had a chance to operate at a normal speed.

I wasn’t sure how else I could be a walking contradiction. One second I was pissed that Roarke couldn’t butt out of my life, and then, the next, I was pretending that I was born with some kind of automatic hospitality to offer?

“Are you sure?” Roarke asked.

That he’d double-check meant the world to me.

That he’d be cautious and mindful of overstaying his stay with me was important.

He’s not David.

Roarke is not David.

For starters, he wasn’t giving me any red flags that he’d try to take charge of any situation with me. And that counted. I needed to know that.

“Yeah.”

I would be sure. It couldn’t be a mistake waiting to happen, offering Roarke to stay at my place.

In the back of my mind, it almost seemed like tit for tat. He’d let me sleep over for a night when I was locked out, and here I was, paying him back in kind.

No. Not in kind. He’s not expecting me to offer him a place to stay. I’m not obligated. Todd had already more or less given him an alternative cabin to check out on a short notice.

I didn’t have to let Roarke stay with me.

But I wanted him to.

I wanted to help him, and for the first time ever, I felt damned good about being able to make someone’s streak of misfortune turn around.

“Thank you,” Roarke said, not wavering in looking directly at me. “I appreciate it.”

“Maybe take a few things,” Todd said. “I’ll have people out to assess the damage and all. I’m sure they’ll wanna see how bad it is here.” He shrugged, looking at the soggy mess. “I told ya the owners are talkin’ ’bout tearing these cabins down, so I won’t be surprised if this makes their mind up faster.”

I sighed, rubbing my arms. While it should’ve worried me to lose my rental, I was sure Todd would give me time to find something first. This close to the holidays, it’d be tricky to look for an apartment. There was no way in hell I’d talk to Jerry about any of his options, either. Come the new year, though, I bet I’d be living somewhere else. “I’m going to go get changed.”

Roarke nodded, going toward what looked like a front closet and grabbing a coat for me. “Don’t freeze out there. Maybe you can wait and I’ll drive you to your cabin?”

“Nah.” I accepted his coat, instantly warmer from the thickness of the fabric. “Take your time to get what you need.”

“I can drive ya back,” Todd offered.

I shook my head. “It seems like you two are discussing things here.”

Before I could exit, though, we all turned at the sound of someone coming down the path. That squeaky bike sure made it hard for Nevaeh to hide her approach. She didn’t seem to want to hide now, gawking at us all wet. The door was still open since Roarke and I entered, and she moved her confused gaze from me, to Roarke, to Todd, then back to her uncle.

“What the hell happened he—”

She didn’t completely finish her question, covering her mouth as she gagged, as though she’d puke.

Again.

I narrowed my eyes, suspicious. That was a rather steady illness she was struggling with.

“Pipe’s are busted,” Roarke replied. “Flooded the whole cabin.”

“Well, where am I gonna stay now?” she whined.

My first thought was snarky. Maybe that’s something you need to grow up and plan for yourself.

But then when she set her hand on her stomach and winced, I caved to a kinder opinion.

You’re really out on your luck, huh?

Pity wouldn’t improve anything, but I couldn’t shut off my worry for her.

“I don’t feel so great. I wanted to lie down and—”

“You can.” I raised my brows, wondering if she’d resort to calling me a bitch or accusing me of being flaky, or who knew what else. “You can lie down for a while at my place.”

“Really?” She faced me, surprised. “If I could just nap for a while...”

“Sure. A nap.” And some questions you can answer.

Roarke thanked me for extending an offer to help his niece. He planned to tidy some things here and grab what he needed—and wasn’t soaked—and Todd said he’d drive me and Nevaeh to my cabin.

The bike fit in the back of his truck, and while Nevaeh watched on after he parked at my place, Todd and I got the bike out and rested it out at the front of my cabin. I unlocked the door and let the teen inside, curious how long she thought this silence between us would last.

“What were you doing at my uncle’s?” she asked.

Hmmm. I don’t think so. I didn’t owe her answers. She was my guest, and she could be in the hot seat first.

“Helping with the water damage,” I replied, only partly lying.

“Ah.” Nevaeh scanned my small living space, shocking me when she didn’t act catty. “That’s nice,” she added, almost as an afterthought.

“Where have you been staying when you’re not at Roarke’s?” I asked as I walked toward the kitchenette.

She watched me, her attention glued to the fact I was wearing her uncle’s coat. If she was piecing it together that Roarke and I had been up to something else than dealing with broken water pipes, like getting closer, she didn’t seem inclined to comment on it.

“Around.” She winced, rubbing her stomach again.

“Are you hungry?”

She shook her head. “Food hasn’t been settling well for me lately.”

Aha.

As far as I was concerned, one of two things were at play here.

She had to be suffering from withdrawal of some kind. I knew Roarke insisted that she wasn’t into booze or drugs. I wanted to believe that because I never smelled it on her, but that didn’t mean it was impossible.

Or...

She was pregnant.

“Do you want to lie down?” I gestured at the loveseat. It wasn’t as big as Roarke’s couch that she was used to, but it would hold her.

“Yeah. I mean, for a while. I don’t want to crowd you out or anything.”

“Crowd me out?”

“Well, it sounds like my uncle is coming to stay here too.”

I shrugged, not thinking far ahead enough to consider my hospitality exceeding my provisions.

“A little nap would help.” She yawned as she sat.

“Help yourself,” I said. “I’m going to shower and try to warm up.”

“Sucks that his pipes burst. The water had been acting up lately, too.”

I nodded. “Shit happens.”

She snorted in agreement. “You can say that again.”

While our conversation was short and simple, I wanted to get hooked on the idea that she could lower her guard with me even further. She clearly needed help of some kind. She was obviously down on her luck for a reason. It wasn’t my responsibility to worry about her, but it was damned hard not to.

I headed to the bathroom to shower, and as I did, taking my wet clothes off and stepping under the hot spray, I realized how I saw myself in Neveah.

A young woman down on her luck. Maybe she hadn’t been born into a great family like me. Or maybe she was simply judged and pushed aside, dismissed when someone should’ve cared.

Is that why I care?

It was possible that I was feeling pity and sympathy for this stranger because I had a hunch no one else—other than Roarke—had ever given a damn about her. I’d been there. I’d done that. I knew all too well how shitty it was to be the outcast no one wanted to deal with. Through no fault of my own, just being born to my parents, I’d been subjected to this town’s judgment and lack of welcome. No one ever wanted to help me, scorned by my parents always mooching, and with time, I learned not to ask for any help at all. It ingrained a deep need for independence in me, but on the outside looking in, seeing how Nevaeh had issues of some sort, I didn’t want her to suffer what I had.

Maybe it’s her fault though.

That had to be addressed too. She was rude. She stole. She expected things to be handed to her without any thought given to her paying back or working for what she wanted.

It could be entirely possible that she’d brought this crappy luck on herself through her actions, or lack of them.

But it won’t kill me to open up to her. In this way, I was in a unique position to really understand how alone and needy she might feel. I was the outcast, helping another outcast. It had a nice ring to it, and as I stood under the shower, I fell back to the memory of what my cousin told me.

When I last spoke to Eric, he’d encouraged me to not be so guarded. While it was my first instinct, to be guarded and defensive, he saw the merit in changing myself in that regard.

To let people in. To consider that Burton’s residents might be able to see me in a new light, distanced from the recall of my parents and their reputations around here.

With that simple, brief conversation we’d had, he’d hinted that I could try to let people in. To accept help and assistance with my abusive ex showing up again.

And now, I was living through a similar, yet more rewarding, experience in trying to give Nevaeh help too.

She was just here to nap on my couch. She was only staying here for a little while until she’d take off for wherever else she stayed to do whatever she did.

But it was something.

It felt like a start. Like a reversal of all the damage that had been to my life and all the lack of trust and faith that I’d had to deal with as a child and teen, then as a young adult.

My past didn’t have to set the course for all off my life.

I could change.

It wouldn’t be the end of the world if I opened my eyes and considered that my determination to be independent didn’t have to rule my existence.

As soon as I got out of the shower, before Roarke came, I’d try to do even better.

Whatever Nevaeh was struggling with, I’d ask her to know more.

I’d emphasize that I was willing to hear her out. To help however I could.

Because as Roarke, Eric, even Todd, were showing me, the world didn’t have to be a lonely, cold place just because of one bad apple like my ex.