One Summer in Santa Fe - By Molly Evans Page 0,59

of having that happen.

“She loves you?”

“Yeah,” he said, and looked away.

“That’s wonderful.”

“Not so wonderful. She’s afraid she won’t be enough for me, afraid of getting hurt, afraid of me wanting more.”

“Is she right?”

Thinking for a second, Taylor didn’t know how to answer. “Sometimes I think she’s right, but when we’re together, it’s magic. She grounds me, balances me, keeps me from staying in the clouds too long.”

Caroline smiled at him as tears filled her eyes. “Then you need to convince her to trust you. I never had that with José and it drove us apart.”

Taylor nodded, but fear cramped his heart. What if he couldn’t say the right things? Then what? “I’m not sure I know how. I’ve never been good at commitment stuff.” Exhaustion seemed to overwhelm Caroline as she struggled to keep her eyes open. “We’ll stop talking now so you can get some more rest. You’re doing better and the leg is healing, but you need sleep. My love life can wait.”

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, nodded. “Come back, bring Alex.”

“I will.” He leaned over and kissed her cheek as she succumbed to the mind-numbing sleep she desperately needed. As he stood, he thought about her words. Convincing Piper that she was enough for him, that she could trust him. His fear throbbed to the surface. What if Piper was right? Could he do that to her and walk away? He didn’t know and didn’t want to think about it right now.

As he left the room, he wondered if he could face the rest of his life without Piper in it. He had five more weeks to figure it out.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

TAYLOR took a personal leave of absence from work. Just for a week. Maybe two. Who knew how long he was going to be caring for Caroline and Alex? His life had been completely derailed by his sister, his nephew and a woman he wanted as his lover. One had been foisted on him, one had been a family obligation he had willingly taken on and one had stolen his heart from out of the blue.

Unable to ignore the kitchen’s deplorable condition any longer, he washed the dishes that had piled up over the last week. If this kept up, he’d have to hire a cleaning service. Caroline was eventually going to come home, but wouldn’t be able to stay by herself right after rehab, so he imagined she’d come to stay with him until she was on her feet again. His sister and his nephew had nearly taken over his life, but he was okay with that now. In fact, he was looking forward to having them both here. The silence in the house was overwhelming, and he wouldn’t be able to tolerate it for much longer.

Alex hooted from the living room, apparently finding some solace in shooting space aliens. The sound of normality made Taylor smile. This was the sound a happy family made. A pang of longing shot through him. Longing for what hadn’t been but, more so, for what could be and wasn’t. An image of Piper soft and dreamy whispered into his mind. The sound of her laughter echoed inside him, and he tried not to listen to the call of his heart. The phone was just inches away. All he had to do was call her. And what? Say he he’d been an ass? That he was wrong?

Trust. The simple problem between Piper and himself was trust. Caro had hit it right on. Neither he nor Piper trusted each other enough to reach out, both were afraid of being hurt. But at their ages, who hadn’t been hurt more than once and painfully so? Taylor sighed, searched for any remaining dishes and opened the oven door.

And found the cake. It hadn’t changed much in the last week, but just looked hard and dried. The icing as crusted over as his feelings had been until this summer. Until Alex.

Until Piper.

Welcome Home. The red icing words seemed to have a message just for him.

Home. It was what he had felt when wrapped in Piper’s arms.

Home. It was what his house had felt like with Piper in it.

Reaching in with hands that weren’t quite steady, he removed the cake and turned to find Alex standing in the doorway of the kitchen.

“What are you doing with that?” Alex asked, his eyes wide with questions. Reaching out, he stuck a finger in the icing, licked, then made a face. “I forgot about