Her fingers tap the edge of the phone. Once. Twice. White-knuckled.
“Delaney—”
“I said I’m fine,” she repeats, more force in it this time. “You don’t have to… whatever this is.”
I frown. “Whatever what is?”
She waves a hand in my general direction, not looking at me. “The… checking. The… noticing.”
“I live here,” I tell her slowly. “Noticing comes with the territory.”
“Then stop,” she says, too fast.
That makes me pause.
I’ve never been good at arguing. My mother can talk a man breathless and leave him smiling about it. Boone can shut an argument down with one look. Silas can spin so much charm no one remembers what the argument was about.
Me? I avoid fights the way I avoid barbed wire. Keep my distance. Move the animal to a different paddock. Find another route.
But the set of her shoulders, the way she’s braced, waiting to get hit, snaps at my temper in a way I don’t see coming.
“I’m just trying to make sure you’re okay.”
“You don’t have to,” she fires back, too quickly. “I didn’t ask you to.”
“I know you didn’t. That doesn’t mean I can’t care.”
Her head jerks up at that. Her eyes flash, sharp and scared all at once. “Well, don’t.”
The words land harder than they should. A slap I didn’t see coming.
I close my mouth, jaw tightening.
She seems to hear her own voice then, hears how sharp it was, and winces.
“I mean…” She rubs her forehead with the heel of her palm, trying to erase the last five seconds. “I’m just… It’s been a day. I shouldn’t be snapping at you. I just…”
“Just… what? I happen to have experience with that particular expression.”
“Well, congratulations,” she says, brittle humor edging her words. “You’re very observant.”
I exhale through my nose. This is not how I imagined this going.
She looks back down at the phone, thumb sweeping across the dark screen without unlocking it. Her breath hitches, subtle, but I hear it.
“What happened?” I ask quietly.
“Nothing.”
“That’s not?—”
“Caleb.” My name is a warning now, thin and sharp. “Drop it.”
The tone hits an old reflex,back off, Caleb, don’t make it worse,but it tangles with the image of her hunched over that phone, eyes wet, and I can’t quite walk away.
“Delaney, you were upset. I saw you before you noticed me. You don’t go from… that to ‘everything’s great’ in two seconds.”
She flinches at the way I say her name.
