She studied my face like she was deciding whether to argue.Then she set her mug down and shifted closer, her knee bumping mine.
“I just want to know that I’m here, and I notice when you’re not okay.You can talk to me about anything.”
I opened my mouth, then closed it again.
She smiled gently.“I’m not asking you to tell me.I’m just saying… I see you.”
That was almost worse.
I nodded once.“Okay.”
Silence settled again.
She leaned her head against my shoulder, and I wrapped an arm around her without thinking.I pressed a kiss to the top of her head and held her there.
She shifted after a minute and sat up straighter.“You want to do something?”
“We are doing something,” I said.“This.Sitting.”
She gave me a look.“You’re vibrating with anxiety, Cole.”
I frowned.“I am not.”
“You are absolutely vibrating,” she said.“It’s like sitting next to a coiled spring.”
I sighed.“What do you want to do?”
She brightened.“Uno.”
I blinked.“Uno.”
“Yes.”
“Why Uno?”
“Because it’s distracting,” she said bluntly.“And I’m going to kick your butt.”
“Not going to happen.”
She laughed.“Oh, it’s happening.”
She hopped up and went to the hall closet and came back with a battered deck of Uno cards that looked like they’d seen some shit.
“I’m dealing, you sit there and prepare to meet your end,” she ordered.
I did, mostly because she was already shuffling.“I didn’t know you were this competitive, babe.”
She shrugged and started dealing out the cards.“You haven’t seen anything yet, handsome.”She leaned in and pressed a kiss to my lips.“Ready to get your ass kicked?”
We played in silence at first.The simple rhythm of draw, discard, shuffle helped more than I wanted to admit.My shoulders loosened a fraction.My thoughts slowed.
Star was trying to distract me, and it was working.
Star trash-talked lightly, nothing serious.Just enough to pull a real smile out of me.
Ten minutes later, she leaned back with a grin.“Uno.”
I glanced at her hand, then at the five I had in mine.
