“He’s still cute, though,” Hannah responds, finally taking a bite of food.
“Last week, he yelled at me because I didn’t take him with me over to my brother’s house. He was pissed when I came home smelling like his dog, Travis.”
“How dare you,” Hannah says with a mock-gasp. “That is a huge betrayal.”
“You’d think I’d left him home alone for days. I was gone for maybe two hours.”
“Clearly, he loves his dad.” Hannah laughs softly.
“We’re a good team. I’ve had him since he was a puppy. We bonded instantly and went through the training program together.” I scratch the top of Arson’s head as he sits at my side, drool dripping from his mouth. “I love him. Even if he’s disgusting.”
“Ew,” Hannah mumbles, glancing at him.
“How are you holding up?” I ask, deciding to bite the bullet.
“I’m fine,” she replies, dropping her gaze back to her food.
I’ve been around enough women in my life to know that her saying she’s fine, means that she’s actually not.
“Hannah,” I state, reaching over to rest my hand atop her palm.
“I’m fine, Thomas, really.”
“I’m not,” I reply.
Her head snaps up, eyes meeting mine. “You’re not?”
“Of course not,” I say with a lackluster chuckle. “I watched a friend get shot, was scared for your life and mine at the hands of a gunman who is part of a drug trafficking ring, had to give a statement to police, tell my family I’m going into hiding, and leave my life behind for an unknown length of time,” I finish with a heavy breath. “I don’t think anyone would be fine after that, and it’s okay not to be.”
“Right,” she mutters, using her fork to push her food around her plate. “I don’t know how to process this.”
I nod, hoping that if I stay quiet, she will continue.
“It all feels like a weird dream. I don’t know how to do this, Thomas. It’s all so much. Being in a fake relationship, being in hiding… How do we process it all? ”
“I don’t either, but we can work through it together, yeah? We have a lot of time on our hands. We can work through this, get to know each other, and hopefully before we know it we will be back home.” I reach across the table to rest my hand on top of hers. She stiffens for a brief second, then relaxes into my touch, even turning her hand to grasp mine.
“I’m here for you, Han. I want you to tell me everything, even if you think it’s nothing. And not only to keep you safe or be your friend in this situation, I want to get to know you, so that when we go home, we can pick up where things leftoff. We might be pretending to be engaged, but that doesn’t mean that my feelings for you are pretend.”
She inhales sharply, her blue eyes widening in shock. “You don’t have to say that,” she says. “We barely know each other, Thomas.”
“So? I still know that I have feelings for you, Hannah.”
“We’re just tired.”
I let out a soft sigh. I thought we were making progress, but now, it feels like we’re backtracking. I’ll just have to show her how real my feelings for her are instead. “Are you finished? We should get some more rest. I know I’m still tired.”
Hannah nods, silently standing from her chair to scrape her mostly uneaten plate into the trash. I watch as she goes about tidying the kitchen, so I stand, helping her clean up. We clean in silence, and I can feel the shift as Hannah shuts down. I anticipated this, knowing how hard the last twenty-four-plus hours have been, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt any less.
After she wipes down the table for the third time, I know I have to put a stop to this. “Hannah, it’s clean. Let’s go to sleep.”
She looks up at me, and those blue eyes swirl with emotion. "Okay.”
“I’ll be right there the whole time. We’re safe.”
With an unconvincing nod, she hangs the wet washcloth over the sink and dries her hands. I let out Arson one final time and when I look back, Hannah is already heading up the stairs. My gaze travels down her delectable body, but I move my eyes from her ass, because even though it looks fucking amazing in those tiny sleep shorts, now is not the time to get an erection.
Arson and I follow her up the stairs, and I pull thesheets back on my side as she rounds to the other side. She climbs into the rumpled bed, lying on her right side and facing the wall. “Goodnight,” she whispers, and fuck she sounds so broken, so sad, that I don’t know what to do.
