What in the world had he gotten himself into? “I was born in Georgia. I don’t have any siblings. And animals eventually die.”
“Whoa, that got dark quick. Have you always felt this—” He cut her off before she could finish.
“My turn. Why did you make an internet vow of singleness?”
Her nose scrunched up in a cute way. She clearly didn’t want to answer this, but she was the one who started the game.
“Relationships aren’t all they’re cracked up to be.”
“I’m going to need more than that.” He looked at her expectantly.
“Fine.” She huffed, the first hint she’d given that he might be able to get under her skin just like she did with him. “Short version: I got married too young to someone who wanted to control everything I did, and once I got free of him, I realized I like who I am alone better than who I am in a relationship.”
“In what way?” He tried to imagine Eliana being stuffed inside of a too-tight box against her will, and he clenched his jaw.
She held up her finger in a no-no gesture. “My turn. Hmmmm.” She looked around the room as if looking for inspiration. “Where are you going to go when you leave this place?”
He grabbed his plate and took another bite of his tasteless food to stall. Eliana waited patiently for him to finish chewing. Unfortunately, she also drew her finger across some of the remaining sauce on her plate, and her tongue poked out as she licked it off. All his brain synapses fried out at the sight. What in the world was this woman doing to him?
He was going to lose his mind—what was left of it anyway—with her living here.
He cleared his throat and filled his fork with more noodles. “I don’t know.” The problem was, he couldn’t imagine himself anywhere else. Once he cut his ties with the Palms, he’d be truly adrift in the world.
“Where’s your family?”
“Uh uh. My turn.”
Her teeth bit down on her bottom lip to hide her smile. Why was he so obsessed with her mouth?
“In what way are you better alone?”
“I was hoping you’d forget.” She sighed and stared at the closed blinds. In the silence, he heard ocean waves crash against the shore. One of the best sounds in the entire world. “For the two years we were married, I never relaxed. I always had to look perfect, act perfect, and be my best self. It was exhausting.”
“And impossible. What would happen if you were less than perfect?”
She gave him the stink eye, but to his surprise, she answered. “His disapproval was palpable. Passive aggressive comments. Side eye. Suggesting I skip out on events. I’m a bit of a perfectionist, blended with some people-pleasing tendencies, and the combination was a cocktail for a self-esteem disaster.”
He clenched his fists. He despised men like that. “It sounds like he deserved to lose you. And you deserve better.”
“Maybe. Either way, I’m alone and have no one to answer to but myself, which feels good.”
“Sure.” He also had no one to answer to, and sometimes he found it so stifling, the only way he could breathe was to be outside. If anything happened to him on a Friday, no one would discover it until Monday when he didn’t show up for work. He tried not to think about that fact too often, but it lingered in the back of his mind whenever a ladder wobbled under him, or he swallowed his drink wrong, or he hit a corner on his bike too hard.
“Don’t think I didn’t notice you cheated,” she told him. “Can I have more pasta?”
“Is that your question?” he drawled.
“Your alfredo sauce is definitely worth giving up a question for.”
His cold, dead heart warmed. He only cooked for himself these days and had almost forgotten how much he loved watching someone else enjoy his food. “Yes, you can. And I won’t even count it as a question. Even though your first question was actually three.”
“Oh yeah. I hoped you wouldn’t notice that.” She threw a sneaky smile over her shoulder as she got up to fill up her plate again. He also ate a little more, relieved to find it didn’t taste like sand anymore.
When she came back, she had her plate in one hand and her turtle’s box in the other. The turtle sized Asher up as she set it on the coffee table. Great. He’d almost forgotten the turtle had existed, and now it was back in his orbit.
“Where’s your family?” Dang. He’d hoped she’d forget that one. It was definitely a conversation killer.
“I don’t have any.”
