Unbreak My Heart (Strawberry Inn Book #4)

Chapter 12

DALTON

Inviting myself over to Elizabeth’s apartment may have been overstepping some boundaries, but I didn’t care. If we were going to be friends, then I was going to react the same way I would when any of my other friends were having a bad day. If Harrison was distracted at work and needed to get something off his chest, I wouldn’t second-guess heading over to his place after work with a six-pack or inviting him over to watch some sporting event. The biggest question is who am I trying to convince this of more, myself or Elizabeth?

Since I left my appointment this afternoon, she had sent me three text messages and I knew they were all intended to start a conversation about her canceling. I wasn’t going to let her get out of this night though. Hayes had been periodically babysitting for me for years now. He knew all the first aid basics. In a short bit of time, I’d be trusting him with my life during a fire, so I’d also trust him with Katie’s life. Elizabeth was nervous about Hayes watching Eva and I understood. I played a bit dirty when I asked Blair to reach out to Elizabeth after the third text message. It worked though.

She walked Eva over to my house where Hayes was already busy prepping his world-famous macaroni and cheese. It was just the orange kind that came in a box, but he put on a show in the kitchen that had the girls cracking up laughing. It was the perfect opportunity to guide Elizabeth out the door and back down to her apartment. 

We’ve shared space alone before, but standing in her kitchen this time felt different. There was a feeling surrounding us that I couldn’t quite name. She was a bundle of nerves just the same, bustling around the kitchen trying to prep for our take-out food that was going to be here soon. It was cute the way she couldn’t stand still. She was in the middle of washing the wine glasses that she swore were just too dusty for us the bring out of when I walked up behind her. 

I gently placed one hand on her hip and the other around the base of the wine glass that had already been scrubbed twice. “Elizabeth,” I said softly into her ear, “the wine glasses are fine.”

“They’re dirty,” she said, in almost a whining voice.

“I’ve taken shots of tequila from glasses with worms in them, Liz, you can stop cleaning and just breathe.”

She quietly giggled and then set the glass on the drying rack. I could feel her take a deep breath and then she turned around to face me. This was the first time we shared space like this and my mind was trying to process all of the emotions. There was no doubt that I was attracted to her, but it was so much more. In a different lifetime, I would have taken advantage of the way she was looking at me and gone in for a kiss, but I couldn’t get my brain to function that way. Instead, it went into panic mode and I took a step back for breathing room.

“There,” I grinned, “You look better already.”

“I don’t know what is wrong with me,” she admitted. “I think I’m just nervous about Eva being with Hayes. She’s never had a male babysitter before and I still don’t know him that well.”

“Elizabeth, I’m not going to hold you hostage here. If you really think you need to go get Eva and we call this night a wash, that’s okay.” 

She shook her head, “No, I trust you and that means I trust who you trust with Katie.” She let out a long breath, “Today has just been a long day.”

Earlier today at my appointment she tried to hide her feelings, but I could tell something was off. The smile was fake and she snapped at the smallest inconvenience. She didn’t snap at me, but when one of the resistance bands snapped she tossed it down and curse under her breath. That was so unlike her. She tried to tell me nothing was wrong, but I called her out on her bullshit immediately.