And I had absolutely no idea why I’d done so withhim.
Maybe it was the week I’d had, fumbling my way through a new town and a new routine. Maybe it was because it was late and I was tired. Maybe it was just because I wasn’t on my game like usual. Maybe it was because I couldn’t remember the last time someone had asked me questions about myself and waited for the answer.Wantingthe answer.
“How about Laurel?” he asked. “Did she ever want a pet?”
A pang settled low in my gut at the question. He’d pushed on a bruise he hadn’t even realized was there.
She used to beg me for a kitten or a puppy—she wasn’t picky. She’d fold her little hands under her chin and hit me with those green eyes that were mirrors of my own. Starting on her sixth birthday, she’d begged me every day for a year.
It was just one of many things I hadn’t been able to give her.
“She did, but we never had one. It was challenging being a traveling nurse and not knowing where we’d be going next or if the rental would allow pets. Never mind that I was only twenty-two and just hanging on. A baby raising a baby. There was no way I could add a pet in the mix. We were barely surviving, just the two of us.”
“Your parents?” he asked.
I barked out a humorless laugh, keeping my focus on the purring ball of fur curled up in my lap. “My mother freaked out about the possibility of a pet. What do you think she did when she found a pregnancy test in the garbage when I was barely sixteen?”
He stared at me with those weighted eyes. The same ones he’d pinned me with that night in the hotel. Making me feel something I had no right to be feeling, especially with him.
“Was that hard?” he finally asked, his voice gruffer than usual.
“Which part? The constant moving or becoming a mom at sixteen?”
“Both.”
I could’ve lied. Could’ve kept up the act that nothing kept me down and that I could handle anything, just like I’d been doing my whole life. But instead, I said, “Yeah, it was.”
The weight of his stare sank into me, and an awareness zinged between us. Reminding me exactly how good it had been when we’d been together in his hotel room.
Before I could do something stupid like lean into him and reacquaint myself with how his lips felt contrasted against the rough scrape of his beard, there was a knock at the back door, and someone called out, “I’ve got the kitten supplies for you, Atlas!”
The tension between us snapped like a twig, the interruption effectively breaking us both out of this weird trance we absolutely did not belong in.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
SUTTON
“Why dowe even have to go to this?” Laurel asked with as much teenage attitude as she could muster.
“Because it’ll be nice to see what this town is all about. And because Quinn invited me.”
“So, how about you just go with Quinn? I’ll stay here and continue marinating in the existential dread that is my life.”
“Have you thought about looking into drama classes?” I said before tossing over her favorite hoodie—which happened to bemyfavorite hoodie.
“We never did shit like this in Atlanta.”
“That’s funny. I don’t ever recall Atlanta having an adult-book-fair-slash-ice-cream-social. Must have missed the memo.”
She heaved a sigh and rolled her eyes. “Whatever, this is dumb.”
“Noted. Now, get your ass in the car.” I tugged on a sweater before grabbing my purse. “And next time, be a little bit more grateful that I gave youmyfavorite hoodie instead of taking it for myself.”
“Yourhoodie?” she asked incredulously. “Um, excuse you, this is mine.Youalways steal it.”
“Okay, you’re clearly suffering from delusions. And what better way to fix that than a change of scenery?” I opened the front door and gestured her out.
She hesitated only a moment before rolling her eyes with a huff. Still, she tugged on the hoodie before heading to the car, and I counted that as a win.
