The Rescue - Nicholas Sparks [103]
“I missed you, too,” Taylor said. “I probably should have stayed. I didn’t sleep too well.”
“Neither did I,” she admitted. “I kept waking up because I had all the covers for once.”
“I don’t hog the sheets. You must be thinking of someone else.”
“Like who?”
“Maybe one of those men at the diner.”
“I don’t think so.” She chuckled. “Hey, are you calling because you’ve changed your mind about lunch?”
“No, I can’t. Not today. I’ll be by after I finish up to bring you into work, though.”
“How about an early supper?”
“No, I don’t think I’ll be able to make that, either, but thanks for the offer. I’ve got a load of drywall coming in late, and I don’t think I’d be able to make it over in time.”
She turned in place, the phone cord going taut against her.
They make deliveries after five?
She didn’t say that, however. Instead she said brightly:
“Oh, all right. I’ll see you this evening.”
There was a longer pause than she thought there would be.
“Will do,” he finally answered.
“Kyle kept asking about you this afternoon,” Denise said casually.
Good to his word, Taylor was waiting in the kitchen as she collected the last of her things, though he hadn’t come by with much time to spare before she had to head off. They’d kissed only briefly, and he seemed a little more distant than usual, though he’d apologized for it, attributing it to the hassles at the work site.
“Oh, yeah? Where is the little guy?”
“Out back. I don’t think he heard you come up. Let me go get him.”
After Denise opened the back door and called for him, Kyle came running for the house. A moment later he burst inside.
“Hewwo, Tayer,” he said, a big grin on his face. Ignoring Denise, he surged toward Taylor and jumped. Taylor caught him easily.
“Hey, little man. How was your day?”
Denise couldn’t help but notice the difference in Taylor’s demeanor as he lifted Kyle up to eye level.
“He’s here!” Kyle shouted gleefully.
“Sorry I was so busy today,” Taylor said, clearly meaning it. “Did you miss me, little man?”
“Yes,” he answered. “I missed you.”
It was the first time he’d answered a new question properly, without being told how to do it, shocking both of them into silence.
And for just a second, Denise’s worries from the night before were forgotten.
If Denise expected that Kyle’s simple statement would alleviate her concerns about Taylor, however, she was mistaken.
Not that it went bad right away. In fact, in many ways things didn’t seem much different at all, at least for the next week or so. Though Taylor—still citing work as the reason—had stopped coming by in the afternoons, he nonetheless continued to drive Denise to and from the diner. They’d also made love the night Kyle had spoken.
Yet things were changing, that much seemed obvious. Nothing dramatic; it was more like the unwinding of twine, a gradual unfurling of everything that had been established during the summer. Less time together meant less time to simply hold each other or talk, and because of that, it was difficult for her to ignore the warning bells that had sounded the night they’d had dinner with Mitch and Melissa.
Even now, a week and a half later, the things that had been said that night still troubled her, but at the same time, she honestly wondered if she was making too much of the whole thing. Taylor hadn’t really done anything wrong, so to speak, and that’s what made his recent behavior difficult to figure out. He denied that anything was bothering him, he hadn’t raised his voice; they still hadn’t even had an argument. On Sunday they spent the afternoon on the river, as they’d done numerous times before. He was still great with Kyle, and more than once he’d reached for her hand as he drove her into work. On the surface, everything seemed the same. All that had really changed was a suddenly intense devotion to work, which he’d already explained. Yet . . .
Yet, what?
Sitting on the porch while Kyle played with his trucks in the yard, Denise tried to put her finger on it. She’d been around long enough to know something about the pattern of relationships.