He raised an eyebrow, chewing his quesadilla.
“Sautéed mushrooms.” I closed my eyes, imagining it. Buttery ‘shrooms with the salty cheddar cheese. Oh, man.
He made a gagging sound. “You hate mushrooms.”
Again with the thinking I hadn’t changed in ten years. Again, he wasn’t wrong. I did still despise mushrooms, usually. What was wrong with my tastebuds today?
His gaze was scrutinizing, and I shrunk under it.
“Not anymore,” I lied.
We stood there, leaning over our plates, contentedly silent—and I found myself watching Silas again. His Adam’s apple dipped with each swallow. Why hadn’t I ever noticed he was attractive before? I mean, I knew why. I’d only ever had eyesfor Billy since the day he asked me out. And I was so in love that I couldn’t see anyone else. Didn’t want to see anyone else. Billy was all-consuming like that.
But knowing what I knew now, it was crazy that I’d spent countless hours with Silas and it had never occurred to me that he wasn’t just…plain old Silas. He was much more. The one thing that hadn’t changed was the peace I felt simply by being with him.
I smiled, watching him swallow.
“What?” His eyebrow lifted. “Do I have something on my face?” He ripped a paper towel off the roll and wiped his mouth.
“No.” My nose crinkled. “I just…I think Christy is incredibly lucky.” I shrugged. “That’s all.”
I may as well have taken a hammer to a glass vase. Because apparently things between us were that delicate. His face went beet red, and he stiffened. In three bites, he inhaled the rest of his quesadilla. Then he rinsed his plate and put it in the dishwasher—all in painful silence and all at breakneck speed.
Had he thought I was hitting on him? I wouldn’t do that. He had a girlfriend. I was just being nice. That’s all. Christywasreally lucky to have such a great guy. Silas and I had always been friends. Just friends. Besides, I was barely out of a relationship that had gutted me. I wasn’t even sure I ever wanted to date or marry again.
He eyed the pan nervously and I could see that he knew he should wash it, but he also wanted to disappear.
“It needs to cool down. I’ll wash it in the morning,” I offered, putting us both out of our misery.
“G’night.” He barely made eye contact.
“Hey.”
He turned and reluctantly met my gaze.
“Do you need me to wake you up every hour?”
His eyebrow lifted.
“You know, for the concussion.”
He shook his head. “No, that’s not a thing anymore.” And then he hurried out of the room.
I googled concussions just to be sure, and he was right. Sleeping normally was totally fine.
I cut off the kitchen light and living room lights and made sure all the doors were locked. Thirty seconds later, when I passed Silas’s room, it was pitch black.
I crawled into bed exhausted and fell into a peaceful sleep.
eight
SILAS
Ascream pierced through the night, sitting me straight up in bed, my heart pounding. But then it stopped, and I thought I’d been dreaming. I rubbed my eyes, trying to remember where I was. The last thing I remembered was looking up at the ceiling and trying to figure out what Clem had been implying when she said Christy was incredibly lucky. Oh, I was at Clem’s house. But why? I was too tired to care. I lay back down and closed my eyes again.
Another tortured shriek shattered the silence.
Anna.
