Crashing Back Down by Kristen Mazzola Page A

heaven.
    I smiled and gestured towards the living room, "Come on, roomie, it's not like we're sleeping together," I looked up to the ceiling. "Don’t worry, babe, this is chiefly because of doctor's orders."
    Walker stared at the floor, with a wilted look I'd never seen before.
    "What's up, Walker? Why the long face?"
    He dug his hands further into his pockets, shrugging his shoulders. "Just miss him, that’s all," He smiled, shaking off his foul expression, and plopped onto the couch.
    We gobbled down our dinners and laughed at the top of our lunges at the stupid comedy he picked out. The evening flew by effortlessly. It was times like that where my guilt of being alive settled in. I felt bad for trying to live a happy, full life, while my heart was buried in a dead man’s chest.
    "That movie was awful! You're picking out the next one, Mags." Walker stood up to stretch, scratching his full belly.
    I nodded with agreement. "So, when are you going to move in?"
    Walker's light green eyes seemed to be reading my expression while he paused, finally answering with a tooth-filled smile, "Whenever you want. This is all up to you. I’ll be glad to be out of that musty converted den, finally." Walker had originally planned on moving back to Nowhere, Georgia when he came home, but never went through with it. I always silently felt guilty, almost responsible for his decision to stick around. Walker always said he couldn’t make anywhere else home anymore. He never really talked about his family much, so I just left it alone, figuring they were a sore subject.
    I met his gaze with a warm grin. "How about tomorrow? I already cleaned out the guest room."
    He agreed and said he'd get a few buddies to help him while I was at work the next day. We said our goodnights and he kissed me on the forehead while we hugged goodbye. "By this time tomorrow you'll be regretting your decision, watch!"
    He and I both laughed. "Want to bet?" I grinned, waved goodbye as he trotted down the steps and then locked the door.
    I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something felt different, in me, in the house, in Walker. I wasn’t sure which it was, or if it was a combination of it all, but I was finding a new appreciation for the intuition of Candice and her little button nose.
     
    The next day was a blur of paper pushing and phones ringing off the hook. A combination of nerves and excitement kept me preoccupied all day. The clock ticked by at a snail's pace, and finally five o'clock came. I slid into the driver’s seat of my Mercedes, uncomfortable to be driving it, but I left Randy’s truck, just in case Walker needed it. I knew he wasn’t going to, since he was not moving furniture and the houses were within walking distance, but I felt like I needed to help, try to at least, in some way. When I pulled into my driveway, Walker was sitting on my front porch, smoking a cigarette. "Hey Mags, how was work?"
    "Ugh, long, boring. How did it go? All settled in?" I waltzed towards him, relishing in how good it was to have a warm greeting upon my arrival again.
    "Yeah, pretty much. Want to go grab a drink later at The Saloon to celebrate like we would have in college?" He looked down at me with a slight, stood up straight, smoothing out his cotton shirt.  Damn, he could be so attractive. Flicking the butt of his Newport into the ashtray, he let his eyebrow rise to question my delayed response.
    "Oh, what the hell!” I matched Walker’s smothering glare, licking my lips slightly, and wrapping my arms around his neck. "I'll go get changed and we can grab some food first.” Chills passed over me when his hand glided into mine, our eyes meeting, and for a split second I was reminded of how attracted I actually was to him. “Come on, soldier. Let's go into our house."
    Once we were inside, we stood and stared at each other for a moment. Seeing that I was smoldering under his gaze, Walker released my hand and sat on the couch. "I'll watch TV while you get