He Brought His First Love Home Again, So I Left novel · Chapter 12 of 24
Chapter 12: The Quiet Kitchen
I could not sleep that night, so I went down to Dot's kitchen at three in the morning and stood at the sink in my socks.
The house ticked and settled around me.
Bandit sat on the counter and watched me with contempt.
The back door opened without a knock, and Ward came in with his shoes in one hand.
"I saw the light," he said.
"I couldn't sleep."
"Neither could I."
He put his shoes down by the door and leaned on the frame.
He looked as tired as I felt, with his glasses pushed up into his hair and a day's stubble on his jaw.
"She's still stable," he said. "I just came from the ward. I'm not here as your mother's doctor."
"What are you here as?"
"A man who walked across a yard at three in the morning in his socks."
I laughed, and then it caught in my throat.
I turned back to the sink so he wouldn't see my face.
"I keep thinking Gavin will show up at the gate again," I said. "I keep thinking I'll go back, if he does."
Ward was quiet.
"Would you?"
"No."
I turned around.
"But I spent seven years as the woman who stayed. It doesn't wash off in a week."
"I know," he said. "That's why I'm standing over here."
He did not come closer.
"I'll tell you plainly what I think, Callie, and then I'll leave if you want. I think you're lonely and tired and angry. I think I'm the nearest person who was kind to you. I don't want to be a shelter somebody uses until the weather changes."
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