“Like what?”
“Like whatever you’re thinking that made you look that way.”
“I’m sorry if you don’t like the way I look.”
He took his hands out of his pockets. “Amy... I’m sorry.”
I pulled myself together. He wasn’t trying to hurt me. “I’m sorry, too.” Threesorrys. We were breaking our own record. “It’s all just been... kind of a shock.”
“How can I make it better?”
“You can’t.”If I have to explain it to you, if you don’t feel the same way, you can’t.“I need to figure this out myself.”
“Come to the library.” And oh, didn’t that sound lord-of-the-manor-ish, I thought, torn between amusement and the desire to hit him with a leftover bottle of Eric’s wine. “I’ll pour you a drink and we’ll talk.”
“I don’t want to talk.”
“Okay.” He took me in his arms and held me while I stood there stiffly, fighting tears. Wrapped in his good, clean Trey smell, citrus oil and starch. Feeling the strong, steady beat of his heart against mine. Slowly, the tension bled from my muscles. With a little sigh, I laid my head against his shoulder. “It’s okay,” he murmured. “We don’t have to talk.”
“Good.”
“Yet,” he added.
At all, I thought.
Stay?Orgo?
I tightened my hold around his waist. Tilted my head up. “Take me upstairs.”
CHAPTER 21
Beth
The dining room was thick with laughter and talk, the rattle of flatware and the smell of good food.
“You’re not eating,” Momma said. “Are you all right?”
I swallowed, instantly on the defensive. Forced myself to smile. “I ate my salad.” Three pieces of baby kale. No beets, because of the sugar. “Anyway, I’m saving room for dessert.”
Across the table, Meg raised her eyebrows. Jo broke off her conversation with Alec to glance from my plate to my face.
Boundaries, Amy had said. But Amy wasn’t here to blunt the force of our sisters’ attention.
I dropped my gaze to fiddle with the phone in my lap. No texts. Nothing.
“Have you heard from Colt?” Meg asked.
“Not lately.”
Dan was silent beside me.
Colt had barely messaged me at all since I’d been home. No,I missyou. No,How are you feeling?No,You’re the only woman I want to spend the rest of my life with.
Not that I was expecting the last one.
“Did you send him your song yet?” Jo asked.
“Jo, stop. You asked her that yesterday,” Meg said.
