Page 47 of The Moment He Couldn’t Walk Away

He got out and ran around to her side. Wrenching open the door he helped Nina out.

“Key?” he said when they reached the front door.

“Pot,” she said, pointing to a large pot with a shrub inside.

“You’re not serious. Who leaves their key under a pot these days?”

“Hurry!”

He lifted the pot and found the key. Finch unlocked the door and pushed it open. She ran through at a sprint. He found her in the bathroom, on her knees in front of the toilet. She then retched until her stomach was empty.

Finch found a washcloth and handed it to her as she sat back on her heels. “You think you’ve got it all out?”

“Yes,” she whispered. “You can go now.”

Ignoring what she said, he lifted her to her feet. After flushing the toilet, she moved to the sink. “I will never recover from this.” The words were muffled as she had her face in her hands.

“Drinking too much and puking in front of me?”

“That,” she muttered.

“If I’d done that every time I’d puked from overindulging, I’d live in silence,” Finch said, backing out of the small room.

“Bye, and thanks.” Her rasped words followed him.

Clearly, she thought he was leaving. Instead, he turned up the heat in the living area, which was nice, he thought, and full of color like Nina. Finch then went to the kitchen and found every cupboard was open. Shaking his head, he closed them.

Finch liked order, and open cupboards were disarray as far as he was concerned.

Mabel meowed from the floor. Looking down, he noted her tail was swishing from side to side impatiently.

“I suppose you’re hungry?”

She meowed again and then moved closer to a small blue bowl, which he guessed was a sign she needed feeding. Opening the fridge, he found cat food and put some into the blue bowl.

He then turned on the kettle. Hunting through the cupboard above, he found peppermint tea, which his mother used when a family member had an unsettled stomach.

Nina wandered in minutes later, dressed in a fluffy robe and slippers, just as he was pouring water over the tea bag.

“I fed your cat and made you peppermint tea.” He handed her the mug.

“Thank you, Finch, and sorry you had to witness that. But I’m all good now.”

What she was, was cute. No makeup or stylish clothes, just Nina in a fluffy white robe. On her feet were matching slippers.

“Mind if I have a coffee?”

She studied him. “Did they tell you to stay with me to make sure I’m okay?”

“They?”

“JD, Zoe, Birdie, Sawyer—all of them.”

“No. I was sober, so I said I’d drive you home. They have children who need feeding and putting to bed. I don’t.”

He made a coffee. Finding his way around her kitchen was easy because to his surprise, even considering the open cupboard doors, she was neat like him. Nina watched, leaning on the doorframe, sipping tea.

“Maybe take something for your head, and drink more water, Nina.”