The Book Keeper's Heart

Ch. 4: This is a Friendly Town

Nandu was glad she'd cleaned up the apartment before she left on Friday. Lily wasn't bad at housekeeping; she just couldn't remember to do it. Cleaning a restaurant on the daily rendered her useless at maintaining the apartment.

It wasn't until she was holding Ryan's hand, cleaning it with alcohol that it hit her.

She was in her apartment, alone with a guy. 

That hadn't happened in a long time.

Abhi never really visited her place. Something about having her friend around made him nervous, and so she was the one who had to go visit him in the city where he worked.

She was the one who had made all the effort in their relationship.

What did I see in him? Was there anything that made it worth being with him?

"Nandini!"

She snapped back to find Ryan with tears blinking in his eyes and glanced down, horrified. She'd been digging into one of his wounds with the alcohol-soaked cotton ball. She dressed the wounds, while apologizing.

Several minutes of silence passed where Nandu could only hear the sound of her own heart in her ears. She finished bandaging his hands, avoiding eye contact to hide her embarrassment. After the first aid kit was stored away in her closet, she cursed herself for her awkward mistake and changed into her PJs before padding back out to face Ryan again.

Idiot, idiot! You hurt him, instead of helping him!

Ryan was cradling his hands as best as he could when she came out. "You promised you'd help me," he accused. The smirk on his face told her not to worry too much.

"I really am sorry, my mind wandered off and I..." she hugged herself, pinching her arms, angry at what she'd done.

"Hey, don't worry about it. Well...given how I've seen how you are, don't read too much into what happened."

She snorted. "What do you know about me? We only met yesterday."

"You want me to list what I think?" His eyes had lost the amused look and were replaced with a dead seriousness.

She wasn't sure. No, she didn't want to hear anything bad about herself at the moment, considering he'd seen her at her worst. "No...not really."

The tension that had built up in the room burst like a bubble as he cracked up. He had a nice, throaty laugh, one that was contagious. A smile started spreading across her face as he blubbered to a stop. 

"Sorry, I wasn't laughing at you; just your response was so funny." A few snorts escaped as he tried to explain.

"It's alright. Want water? Something to drink?" She moved to the kitchen and picked up a couple of water bottles. He didn't look like he was going to go anytime soon.

"Water please."

They talked about how he knew Matt, since she'd seen him acting close to him and why he'd chosen this town of all the places.

He got up to look at her bookshelf, noticing some series that stood out. "You have everything by R.J. Cornwell."

His voice sounded vaguely mystified, even though there weren't that many books. Maybe about five were stashed on the shelf.

She shook off her confusion and responded with, "Yeah! I love him, do you read?"

He nodded and she launched into an explanation of her favorites of the series, pointing out the scenes she loved, especially the parts where everything came together. Cornwell was a mystery-thriller writer and seemed to have in depth knowledge of how the system worked, never including things that seemed like it'd be from a criminal lawyer show.