Nellie was quiet for a moment, and Veronica almost wished she’d say yes. It would make her feel so much better, that she was in this big warm house with extra rooms but it would be just too inappropriate for her to even offer. “I don’t think so, Veronica. They say it’s only supposed to get colder in the next week. I mean if he thinks it’s weird, he can just say no right? It’s not like you’re offering your bed, he’d have his own private bedroom.”

Just the thought of her offering him her bed heated her face. “It’s too late tonight. Maybe I’ll mention it tomorrow when he calls. He’s supposed to call to let me know if he’s going to make it to the gym or not.”

Nellie agreed and it was settled. She’d mention it to him the next time she spoke to him.

That night she hardly slept. Every bolt of lightning that lit up her room, followed by the thunder that shook her windows made her feel worse and worse. Even with her heater on a timer, there were moments when she shivered under her blankets.

The next day she chided herself all day. There was no way she’d back down from bringing it up that evening when he called. The worst thing that could happen (and maybe it’d be a good thing) was he’d pass on her offer. But at least then she’d have a clear conscience and she’d be able to sleep. Yawning most of the day because of the lack of sleep she’d gotten, gave her all the more reason she had to at least make the offer. She wasn’t going through another night like last night again.

When her phone finally rang early that evening, her heart jumped to her throat. She took a deep breath before answering and felt that familiar stir in her belly when she heard his voice again. “Veronica?”

“Yes?”

“I’ll be there tonight.”

Feeling a tiny bit of disappointment she asked, “Oh, did you get your roof fixed?”

“No. I decided to just wait until these storms pass. This one is supposed to be done by the end of the week but there’s another one blowing in next week. I’m just gonna have to wait it out. Even once the storms let up it’ll be a while before I can go back there. So I figure I may as well keep working. Lord knows I’m gonna need the money.”

“Oh.”

This changed things. When she first considered having him stay at her place, she thought it would be for just a few nights. That alone was nerve wracking but now he was talking over a week, maybe more. “Okay so I might be a little late. I didn’t think you’d be going in. I need to get ready.”

She hoped he didn’t put too much thought into the fact that she hadn’t planned on going in unless he was there. Tonight was about as rainy as Monday had been when she happily drove there in the rain and all for her workout—with him. Thinking that he wouldn’t be there tonight she just hadn’t felt like going in tonight.

As much as she didn’t want to admit it, this was beginning to feel dangerously close to a crush—a crush on her much younger trainer—just another reason why she really should think through offering her place up to him.

Immediately after hanging up with him she called Nellie. She explained how the situation had changed and again waited for Nellie to discourage her from doing it. Of course, she did just the opposite. “Wow. I feel so bad for him. Fixing a bad roof is no easy feat and this is just the beginning of winter. Maybe you can offer to rent the room out to him, since it’s possible he’ll be there a while.”

Feeling her insides tighten, Veronica took a deep breath. “I don’t know about all that, Nellie. I wasn’t looking for a roommate. I just felt bad for him.”

“You should feel bad for him. Winter just started and he’s homeless.”

Leave it to Nellie make it sound so terrible. “Well, when you put it like that, Nel. Geez.”

She heard Nellie giggle. “Just think. You’ll have a new roomie in time for the holidays.”

Veronica rolled her eyes. “He hasn’t said yes yet.”

“Oh, I think he will.” Nellie sounded too pleased. If Veronica didn’t know any better she was probably relieved that just maybe Veronica wouldn’t be alone during the first holiday season since her mom died. Not that last year had been very pleasant with her mom so sick.

She’d already been so incredibly nervous about bringing up her offer to Noah over the phone. Now not only would she be offering him a place to stay in his time of need, she was practically asking him to move in with her and she’d be doing it in person. Super!

CHAPTER 5

There was something about Veronica tonight. Noah couldn’t put a finger on it but she was acting a little differently. After all this time training her, they’d finally met a happy medium. The first few days after his age revelation had been a little weird but they’d gotten past it.

He still couldn’t get over how good she sounded on the phone. He’d been struck by her voice from day one, but hearing her over the phone had been something else. When she walked in tonight, his heart had taken on a different beat. It was crazy. It had only been two days since he’d last seen her but he actually thought he might’ve missed her. If he hadn’t been so busy moving all his soggy shit out of that garage and trying to patch the roof up in the pouring rain maybe he would’ve noticed more.

She was a little too thoughtful tonight. A few times, he had to ask her the same thing twice because she’d been so preoccupied.

Done with her run on the treadmill she stood off to the side, draining her bottled water into her mouth. This had become one of his favorite moments of her workout. The way she sucked that bottle with such thirst could make a grown man blush. He watched and enjoyed until she was done.