Free A Soldier’s Family by Cheryl Wyatt

expression hovered in her face. “Nice of you to do that for them. So, if I say yes to dinner, you buying, hotshot?”
    “Always.”
    “Fine,” she surprised him by saying. “I’ll open the garage door. You can pull your wheels in since we only have one car.”
    Out of respect, he waited in the garage and eyed Celia’s compact efficiency car. He hated that she’d had to give up her beloved Hummer due to its gas-guzzling tendencies. Javier had mentioned to Manny how long and hard his dad had saved for the Hummer because he’d known Celia loved them.
    The door leading from the house to the garage opened and Celia’s face peeked out. “What are you doing out there? It’s cold. Get your broken bum in.” She hiked a thumb behind her.
    Manny ascended her steps, and waited near the door while she breezed down a hall. Ten minutes later she emerged with an extra bounce to her curls and her step.
    She passed by, giving him hefty whiffs of perfume as she grabbed her coat off the hook. He maneuvered himself aside and averted his gaze from her pretty high heels and tried to ignore that she’d put on lipstick.
    It didn’t mean anything. Celia always wore the stuff.
    She’d changed clothes, too. A dazzling yellow pantsuit that brought out her creamy caramel complexion.
    Manny swallowed. Good grief. Wasn’t like he’d never been in the presence of a beautiful woman before.
    “What’s wrong?” She stopped, her eyes growing round.
    “Uh, nothing. You just, uh, you look nice.” He felt underdressed compared to her.
    She brushed a dismissive hand down herself. “Ah. This old thing?” When she turned to nab her suitcase from the counter, Manny nearly swallowed his gum. A sales tag dangled from beneath her armpit.
    This old thing?
    Ri-ight. He grinned.
    She turned that moment to peer at him. “What?”
    He chuckled and dropped his gaze. “Nothing.” He laughed again, thinking of the chagrin she’d suffer when she noticed the tag. Maybe he should tell her.
    “How long have you had the outfit?” he asked.
    She shrugged. “I don’t know. A while.”
    He chuckled. This was too fun.
    “I hope you’re loaded with cash because I skipped lunch today.” A slight smirk curved her mouth up, for a moment making her look like Psych the cat at half-past asleep. “You ready?”
    “Ladies first.” Manny extended his arm to the door, letting her exit. He didn’t want her behind him, staring at his ineptness with stairs and crutches.
    A laughed yelped out of him.
    She whirled, a scowl drawing her face down. “Wha-at?”
    He shook his head. “I’m sorry. I just can’t let you go like this. Turn around.” He twirled his finger.
    When she did, he reached down and yanked the long sizing sticker off the back of her slacks, taking care not to make contact with her leg. At the swish, she spun back around. Her mouth gaped at the rectangular strip he dangled in front of her. She snatched it away and crumpled it up before shaking her head at him. “Promise not to tell.”
    He held a few fingers up. “Scout’s honor.” He followed her down the stairs, subduing laughter the entire way. He took extra care with the placement of the crutches. Last thing he needed was to fall on his face in front of her and give her a reason to laugh back at him.
    Celia clapped her hands. “You finally mastered them!”
    Manny looked up from having maneuvered from the last step to concrete. “What’s that?”
    “Stairs. Javier told me to pray because you were having a tough go at it. He hadn’t requested prayer from me for anything in a very long time. He’ll be happy to hear about this.”
    Heat rushed Manny’s face. Javier owed him big-time for telling. “Took me three days, but I finally conquered stairs at the rehab center. The first day, they mastered me. Second day we broke even. The third day, I mastered them. But your steps are pretty rickety. You ought to have someone fix them.”
    Whoops. Maybe that was the wrong thing to say. She