Teresa Southwick - The New Guy In Town

“Your mother told me about you.” Poor kid. No matter how the truth had been censored, she had to know that her home was in danger. That was scary for an adult let alone a child. “Come on in.”

Sam pulled the door open wider and stepped back to let them pass. The little girl clutched her mother’s hand tightly as she looked around wide-eyed.

“Wow. This is big.” She was looking up at the chandelier in the two-story entryway. For the moment, awe distracted her from fear and worry.

He could keep the distraction going for a while because this was a big house. Glancing at Faith, he saw that she looked the tiniest bit impressed, too, and that didn’t bother him a bit. “Would you like to see the rest of the place?”

Faith looked at her daughter who nodded eagerly. “Okay.”

“Follow me.” Sam noticed she was carrying a couple of bulging bags.

“Since we couldn’t go home, I had to pick up some clothes and toiletries for us,” Faith explained.

He held out his hand. “Let me take those for you.”

“That’s okay. I’ve got it.”

“I can see that. But guys are supposed to carry things for girls.”

“Why?” Phoebe asked. “Is that a rule?”

“No. But boys are usually bigger and stronger and it’s the gentlemanly thing to do.”

“Oh.” The little girl thought about that and frowned. “At summer camp the girls carry stuff and the boys let us.”

“Girls have to be able to take care of themselves,” Faith explained. “It’s called being self-reliant.”

“And that’s a good thing,” Sam allowed. “But in certain situations, like now for instance, what with you being guests in my home, it’s appropriate for a man to help a lady.”

“And sometimes a lady just wants to tell a man to take a flying leap because she’s perfectly capable of carrying her own things.”

“Can I look at your house?” Phoebe was staring up at them, clearly impatient and not the least bit interested in the undercurrents of the adult standoff.

“We can,” he said. “Follow me.”

“You can carry this if you want.” Phoebe held out a pink backpack with two female cartoon characters on it, one in a sparkly turquoise dress.

“It would be my pleasure,” he said, taking it from her. “This way.”

He led them straight ahead to the kitchen and family room, with its leather corner group and two-story river rock fireplace.

“That’s the biggest TV I ever saw,” Phoebe said.

Sam looked down at her and realized that when you were small, everything must look gigantic. “I’ll show you how to turn it on later.”

Faith cleared her throat loudly and, when she had his attention, shook her head. “Sensitive electronic remote controls and an eight-year-old are not a good combination.”

“She thinks I’m still a baby.” The little girl made a face. “I’m not.”

“I can see that. Maybe your mom would be okay with it if there’s an orientation.”

Phoebe frowned. “What’s that?”

“I’ll show you how to use it and you can practice for a while with me supervising. Your mom might be okay with that.”

“I don’t think so. Mom doesn’t let me do very much. She’s a little overprotective.”

“Hey,” Faith said. “I’m standing right here. And I’m not overprotective. Where did you hear that?”

“I don’t know. Around. And anyway, in the car you told me not to touch anything in his house,” the child said. “And that’s kind of hard unless I stand in the corner.”

Sam looked from one to the other and said, “I’ve never been the rose between two thorns.”

“How long have you been waiting to drop that into a conversation with me?” One corner of Faith’s beautiful mouth quirked up.

“I thought you’d like that one, plant lady. And, moving on—”

He showed them the rest of the downstairs, with its spacious home office and media room. On the second floor he took them past the master where he slept to the wing with three other bedrooms and a large open space set up as another entertainment area.

“How big is this house?” Faith asked.

“A little over five thousand square feet.”

“No one else lives here with you?” Phoebe asked, wonder in her voice.

“You do now.” He looked at her mom. “Told you I had lots of space. Do you want to pick out a room?”

“Yes!” Phoebe raced down the hall and disappeared around a corner.

Faith went after her and Sam realized he’d never had the opportunity to look at her from the back. She was always facing him with a counter in between them. She had quite a superior rear view and now he knew what he’d been missing all this time.

He caught up with them in the room that overlooked the front lawn with a spectacular view of Blackwater Lake beyond it. There was a queen-size bed, walk-in closet and bathroom.

“There’s a bed in here even though no one lives here?” Phoebe asked.

“Yes.” He’d never thought about that. Furnishing the whole house seemed like a good idea when you didn’t want it to be a big, empty shell.

“I think you and I can share this room, Phoebs,” her mother said.

“But no one is using that other room. The green one. Sam said so.”

“I know, sweetie. But I know you. It seems like a good idea right now but when the sun goes down you’re not going to want to be in there by yourself.”

“I promise I will,” Phoebe begged.

“I have an idea.” Sam looked at Faith. “Not taking sides here, but how about if she tries sleeping in the green room. If you change your mind, you can always crawl in with your mom.”

“You’re okay with that?” Faith asked.

“Of course. There are five bedrooms in this house. I have one. The other four are up for grabs.”

Faith was wearing an uncertain expression as she nodded. “I promise when we’re able to go home, we’ll leave the rooms in the same condition we found them.”

“Don’t sweat it. I have a cleaning service.” He set the pink backpack just inside the door of the green room.

“Okay.” She smiled. “I’m grateful for your hospitality.”

“Don’t do that,” he said.

“What? Thank you? It’s the polite thing to do.”

“Mommy always tells me to say thank you,” Phoebe chimed in, then disappeared.

“I meant don’t be nice to me,” he told Faith. “It’s just weird.”

She laughed and for a few moments the tension in her expression disappeared. “Okay. I’ll see what I can do.”

“Mommy! There’s a pool!”

“Phoebe?” She set her bags inside the doorway then called out, “Where are you?”

“In the big family room upstairs.” The reply was muffled because she was around a corner and down the hall.

Sam put his palm to the small of Faith’s back as they walked in the direction the little girl had gone. Touching her wasn’t the dumbest thing he’d ever done, but it ranked fairly high up on the list. Awareness tingled in his fingers and crackled through his entire body. The whole point of opening his home to evacuees was to be neighborly. But touching her opened up something else, too. What had she called it? Oh, yes. Connecting in a physical way. The idea of that was entirely too appealing.

They found the little girl looking out the window at the backyard. The pool was big, one could say proportional to the rest of the property. He’d put it in for swimming laps and staying in shape. Also for summer parties and entertaining. And he was particularly proud of the built-in barbecue area and outdoor kitchen. There was also a covered patio and the yard was meticulously landscaped.

“Do you want to go outside?” Sam asked.

“Yes!” Phoebe didn’t wait for further invitation. She took off ahead of them.