I wish I could pull it back the second it’s out of my mouth.
“I don’t need you monitoring my emotional temperature,” she snaps, hugging her arms around herself. “I’m not a horse you’re checking for colic.”
“That’s not what I’m?—”
“I’m serious.” Her voice rises half a notch. “I’ve had enough of being observed and analyzed and categorized by people who think they know what’s best for me. I don’t need it from you.”
“Nice,” I repeat, bristling. “That’s what this is? Me trying to check if you’re okay after clearly something upset you… that’s me being… what? Annoying? Controlling?”
I don’t know!” she bursts out, pushing to her feet. “I don’t know what it is, okay? I just… I was having a moment, and you walked in and stared at me like…” She breaks off, swallowing hard, eyes suddenly shiny again. “Like you saw too much and now I owe you an explanation.”
My hands curl against my biceps.
“You don’t owe me anything. I never said you did.”
“You don’t have to,” she says, wobbling. “People always want something when they look at you like that.”
“Like what?” I ask, not sure I want the answer.
She stares at me for a long moment, chest rising and falling too fast.
“Like you care,” she whispers.
The words land between us like a dropped plate.
Shattering.
She hears herself. Color drains from her face, horrified that she said it out loud.
I open my mouth. I have no idea what’s about to come out. Something like,of course I care,it’s not a crime to care, clumsy and probably wrong.
Before I can find anything, she blows out a broken laugh.
Her throat works once, twice. Her gaze darts toward the doorway behind me.
“I’m going to… go,” she mutters.
“You don’t have to,” I say, the protest out before I can catch it.
“I do. Before I say something worse.”
She slips past me, not quite touching, but close enough that a strand of her hair brushes my forearm. Citrus and sweetness hits my nose, and my body reacts stupidly, at odds with the tension snapping between us.
Her footsteps are quick down the hall. Her bedroom door closes.
I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding.
Good job, Caleb.
Real smooth.
I should let it go.
Give her space.
But my mind is replaying Delaney’s words on a loop.
If I were smarter, I’d listen.
