“I’ll pick something. What about food? Any takeaways you prefer? Agnes will skin me alive if I ask her to make something for us both this late.”
The admission earns a sympathetic smile, but not an answer. Instead, her expression soon collapses into blankness, a sign she’s in overwhelm. It’s not the first time a seemingly simple question has thrown her; I wonder if a life lived without autonomy is the culprit or if it’s a natural deference to others and what they want.
Either way, I can imagine how responsive she’ll be to direction. How she’ll blossom given enough praise.
“Chinese?”
She nods quickly enough to the suggestion that I guess her enthusiasm is genuine.
“I’ll get a selection. Come on through to the living room when you’ve changed.”
I whistle as I head back to the kitchen, to tell Agnes the new plans before she finds out from somewhere else and takes me to task again.
CHAPTERTWELVE
CRIMSON
My nerves have been on edge for so long today that they’ve worn themselves out by the time I take a seat on the couch next to Micah. It’s built for three and there are dips in the frame to keep us evenly spaced.
He looks uncomfortable, and it doesn’t take me long to work out why. The padded cushions are pinned into a pattern with thick buttons. No matter how I twist or turn my body, it’s impossible to find a favourable position.
“Wait here a second,” he tells me as though I had somewhere else to go. He stalks into a corridor I haven’t yet ventured down, returning a minute later with two large bean bags.
Together, we move the sofa that doesn’t deserve its name and replace them with the lumpy sacks.
“Dare I ask where these came from?” I arch an eyebrow, trying for lighthearted.
Having already been told off once today, I’m not eager for another reprimand. When he lobbed out the word punishment, I felt a rush of heat at the thought he might take me over his knee. But the punishment was him being disappointed in me. I have enough experience in that department not to want to visit again.
“There’s a den with consoles and stuff.” He gives a shrug, clearly not one to enjoy the allure of gaming. “They were in there.”
“You don’t spend a lot of time at home, then?”
He lifts his shoulders again, looking more ill-at-ease with every passing second. I don’t know if it’s because I’m here or just his late realisation that his home is uncomfortable to the extreme.
Micah has a momentary reprieve as the food arrives, but I’m not hungry enough to lose my chance to ask him the questions that have been building in my head from the moment I woke this morning.
“Where did all the clothes come from?” I start with first. The weirdness of it has been nagging at me.
His head tilts from one side to the other like he’s listening to a pair of voices before answering. “They’re from my exes.”
“And what?” My eyes narrow, trying to catch him in a lie. “They liked to buy clothes and not wear them?”
“More like bought them in advance, then didn’t have anywhere to wear them while I was stuck in jail.”
“I thought you were only in there for four months.”
His eyes drag themselves away from his Styrofoam container long enough to bore straight into mine. I can’t catch their colouring. They’re so dark that with the light behind him, they’re black, lost in the shadow of his too-long fringe.
“Only.”He laughs with no humour and shakes his head. “I don’t know. Never paid a lot of attention to anyone’s shopping habits.”
I blush at my easy dismissal of what must have been a terrible time. “Sorry. That didn’t come out the right way.” To hide my unease, I bury my nose into my container of fried rice, using the chopsticks to ferry a few mouthfuls before I dare glance in his direction again.
When I do, he’s staring straight at me, an expression of curiosity on his face like he’s trying to pick apart my puzzles. He gives a small jump, then turns back to his food.
“Where’s this movie?” I demand, needing something to crack the awkwardness between us. “Couldn’t you find something you like?”
He snags the remote from the glass-topped table and flicks through the channel selector, entering a streaming app.
