Ed didn’t need a description of the woman who’d come looking for him. And he certainly didn’t need her name. He knew who would interrupt his workday with no regard for his privacy or career.
Emma.
Of course, it could have been his sister, he thought while rinsing paint from his hands, but she wouldn’t have known where to find him. If anything had been wrong with his family, someone would have called him.
He dried his hands on a rag.
No, there was only one person ballsy enough to disrupt him at work—to go a step further and disrupt his boss at work. Bill said the woman had talked to Chris about him. Probably to squeeze out a location. God only knew what Chris was thinking now.
He should make her wait or tell Bill to send her packing. Instead, he found he was eager to see her again. He chalked it up to sheer curiosity.
Would she still be a mess, or had she sobered up in the last two days? Had she gone out drinking again last night?
Ed headed to the front of the house, stopping only long enough to tell Bill he’d be right back. Ed had been working with the company’s head electrician for the past several months, but today, he’d been reassigned to catch-up duty. They’d had a major setback months ago when a fire had taken out a row of houses on this street. As much as he wanted to, he couldn’t spend long with Emma. He needed to get back to work.
He doubted he’d be away from work long. She’d probably come to tell him to mind his business, and he didn’t blame her.
Pushing through the front door, Ed got his first view of Emma in daylight.
Leaning against their truck, she stood with her arms crossed over her chest as she glanced around the neighborhood. He noted she was still sporting cut-off shorts, emphasizing her long legs. This time, she’d paired them with flats. Sunglasses hid her eyes, but Ed felt her stare the second she spotted him.
Pushing away from the vehicle, Emma started toward him. Her easy gait had her dropping her arms to her sides, allowing Ed to gain a full view of her shirt—it was plain and oversized, which wasn’t flattering to her figure. As she approached him, he read the text on the front and immediately realized why she’d chosen to wear it.
In big black letters across her chest, it said, You couldn’t handle me even if I came with instructions.
Ed chuckled. He was about to tell her she was trying too hard when she plucked her glasses from her nose and placed them in her hair. With his tongue sticking to the roof of his mouth, Ed stopped dead on the pathway.
No longer bloodshot nor smudged with old makeup, Emma’s eyes lit up her face. They’d been a defining feature in most of the photographs he’d seen of her. She didn’t need makeup to cause those beauties to pop. Big and blue, her eyes gave her a childlike innocence that Ed couldn’t look away from.
She paused before him and poked him in the chest with a short, clean nail. “All right, mister, we need to talk.”
She might not be polished; Ed doubted she ever was, but she was much improved from Saturday night. The smell of soap clung to her body, and with her skin scrubbed clean, he fought not to reach out and stroke her soft-looking cheek.
She was moving again before he even had a chance to speak. Plopping down on the front porch, she patted the spot beside her.
Trying his best to be stern, he refused her invitation and glared down at her instead. “This is my workplace.”
Nodding, she glanced around. He was sure she was being purposely ignorant when she said, “Seems nice enough.”
“You shouldn’t have come here.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You shouldn’t have come to the bar.”
Okay, so he had interfered in her personal life first. Giving in slightly, Ed sat beside her, his hip brushing hers on the narrow entranceway. “Your uncle asked that I meet you. Before that happened, I wanted to get a feel for you, so I checked out the bar.”
“And found me.”
Ed nodded. “Yes. I hadn’t planned to interfere, but that guy you were with—”
“I wasn’t with him,” she protested.
“I didn’t like the way he was pawing at you. He wasn’t a smart decision, and I wanted to be close at hand if it turned into an altercation.”
“I already said I wasn’t going anywhere with him, but would you have tried to stop me if I had planned to do just that?”
“I’d like to think I wouldn’t have gotten involved, but I can’t be sure. I was just there for surveillance. I had no plans to approach you, but then you spotted me.”
“You know I wasn’t that drunk. Yesterday’s hangover might disagree, but I was still in control. I knew what I was doing.”
“I couldn’t be sure of that.”
“You said surveillance. You were studying me?”
He lifted one shoulder. “I guess you could say that.”
“What kind of conclusions did you draw?”
Ed looked out across the dirt yard that would soon be covered in sod. For the past day and a half, Emma hadn’t been far from his mind. On Saturday, she’d been irrational and easily agitated. Today, she seemed calmer. Had Saturday’s behavior been solely due to the alcohol she’d consumed?
“I couldn’t really say.”
Emma huffed over his reply.
“I don’t really know you, and what I’ve seen of you has been influenced by alcohol.”
Emma hugged her knees and rested her head atop them before looking at him. “Yeah, I guess.”
Was she looking for an answer? She’d find no easy ones from him.
“If I had to guess, I’d say you seem confused.”
She blinked.
“And angry. And frustrated.”
She nodded. He barely heard her whispered, “Yes.”
“Your uncle suggested we do coffee sometime. What do you say?”
She straightened. “I’d like that.”
“I generally work until four, but sometimes I’m here as late as six or seven. What do you say to meeting for coffee around seven on Wednesday evening?”
“What will we talk about?”
Was she afraid he’d dive right in and ask her about what she’d witnessed while serving? He knew from experience how difficult it was to talk about those types of things. No way would he push her.
“You’re not working right now?”
She tensed. “What does that matter?”
He’d take that as a no. He smiled and reached for her hand. “Relax. We’ll just have coffee and get to know each other. I just figured that if you weren’t working, maybe you could come up with a list of things you’d like to discuss on Wednesday—whatever you’d like, no pressure.”
Emma looked to where their hands were joined. He knew he shouldn’t, but he couldn’t help tracing his thumb over her knuckles. He hoped it came across as a gesture of compassion and friendship, although the simple touch felt like so much more to him—something he definitely shouldn’t be doing.
“I thought you wouldn’t touch me with a ten-foot pole.”
This couldn’t turn sexual. He wouldn’t let it. For starters, she was Cain’s niece. Secondly, he couldn’t forget about his casual relationship with Chantal.
But as he sat there looking at Emma, he realized other women were far from his mind. Something about this doe-eyed woman called to him. Perhaps it was simply two kindred spirits. Maybe it was something deep inside him recognizing the lost soul before him.
“I was wrong,” he confessed.
Her eyes widened.
Beautiful.
“Turns out there was a woman under there.” Ed dropped her hand and stood up before she could take it to mean more than what it was—a friendly compliment. He pulled his phone out of his pocket. “In case I work late on Wednesday, what’s your number?”
Ed added her to his contacts as she rattled off her digits. He sent her a text that said hello with a happy face. “Perfect. I just texted you, so you should have my number, too. In case anything comes up.”
“Sure.” Replacing her sunglasses over her eyes, Emma moved away from the step. “See you Wednesday.”
Although he returned to the house, Ed watched her through the front window as she crossed the street and pulled herself into her truck. That had gone better than he’d expected.
He just hoped she didn’t get into too much trouble between now and Wednesday.