Colton's Spring

Chapter 12

Spring awoke instantly, aware she was not alone. She took a moment to orient herself and then realized she was tucked in against Colton, his good arm holding her close. She was feeling quite pleased with herself because she suspected he rarely let women stay in his bed. Glancing at the clock, however, she knew she had to get up. She still had to go back to her place for a quick shower, head into the office to write the story which would run in tomorrow's paper after Jessica's interview aired, and then she needed to be at Belinda's place for her interview with Jessica.

Colton had arranged for someone to come in and clean up Belinda's place. Spring knew it was going to cost him a lot of money because he hadn't just hired the cleaning service to tackle the vomit on the carpet. No, he had arranged for them to clean the entire house. She knew he had gone back and forth on that, not wanting to be intrusive, but she also knew he had instinctively understood Belinda needed a fresh start. The cleaning service had been respectful of Belinda's things, but they had also removed three bags of empty liquor and beer containers.

Seth, as responding officer, should have charged Belinda with possession of marijuana, but he'd just thrown the pot in the garbage and pretended not to have seen it.

Slipping from Colton's grasp, Spring tiptoed to the bathroom and slipped into yesterday's clothes. She left his bathroom and he was still asleep. She would have to leave his front door unlocked, but figured that would be better than someone showing up and finding her in his bed. He'd been right that there would be repercussions for this and, in the light of day, Spring was less certain than she had been last night.

Did she want a relationship confined to Colton's place or her own? Or could she convince him she wasn't ashamed of their relationship? Even if she managed to get him to go see a movie with her, that might not go over well with other people in town. Spring had never cared what others had thought of her, but she had seven sisters and five brothers-in-law or soon-to-be-brothers-in-law to consider. Her life was no longer her own, if it had ever been.

What if they went beyond the sphere of Mission City? Vancouver was just under an hour's drive away, although that seemed to like a long way to go for a date. Still, as she pulled on her boots and headed out the door, she knew she would be back. Colton may have scruples, but her will was stronger, of that she was sure.

Colton awoke to a dull ache in his arm. He reached for Spring, but found her spot cold. How long had he slept, he wondered, and how long had she been gone?

Glancing at his clock radio, he noted it was just after ten. Because of his midnight tête-à-tête with Spring, he had slept well into the morning. Now he needed to get to the bathroom and then he needed a bath. Of course he would prefer a shower but he wasn't supposed to get his stitches wet and besides, he wasn't sure he could actually stand up for the entire shower. Normally a very strong man, he was feeling weaker than he would have liked. So he told himself to just deal with it as best he could and an hour later he was fairly clean.

Breakfast was poorly buttered toast and orange juice he managed not to spill. Then he got onto his computer and started looking at the stories about himself. Where he had expected complete condemnation, there were people who cautioned against a rush to judgement. There was not, however, news of the recent recantation. Not that he expected there to be because it was too soon, he knew. But that left him with another full day ahead of him and nothing to do. He'd already watched all the shows on his PVR - not that there had been that many. He wasn't into television and there were very few things which he just had to watch. He didn't even have any guilty pleasures. He worked and then he worked harder. Even his days off were consumed with the job, as it was for Dorrie. It was why they made a good team.