“I know.”Her hand rested against my chest, easing the pressure.“That’s why this hurts so much.”
We stood there breathing the same air, caught in the space between what we were and what we couldn’t be.My hands slid down her arms, memorizing her warmth, absorbing it as if I’d need it in preparation for the days ahead.
A loud bang burst through us.“Wyatt!”Cynthia whined from the other side.“Rose.Someone.”
Rose’s eyes slid shut.“I can only imagine,” she said before stepping around me and opening the door.
“I just woke up, and I found Chris passed out between the room and the hallway, and I can’t get him up.I can’t shut the door.”
I rubbed a hand over my face.Why couldn’t the universe let me have five uninterrupted minutes of emotional devastation?
I inhaled deeply, finding the strength to be the Wyatt everyone needed.I stepped around Rose and into the hallway, immediately taking in the scene.Chris lay half in, half out the doorway like a fallen tree, one arm flung dramatically over his head, the other clutching what appeared to be room-service fries.
“Ah,” I said with as much enthusiasm as I could gather.“The rare hallway otter.Beautiful creature.Known for its inability to locate a bed.”
Cynthia crossed her arms over her chest.“This isn’t funny, Wy.”
“I assure you it is.”I nudged Chris’s foot with my shoe.“He’s breathing.Snoring too.And I’m ninety-five percent sure he’s smiling.”
Chris groaned.“Wyatt?”
“Yeah, bud.”I kneeled beside my fallen comrade.
“I think I fought the carpet.Carpet won.”
“Buddy, you didn’t fight the carpet.You made love to it.Publicly.”
A soft snort caught my attention, and Rose’s shoulders shook as she pressed her lips together.
“Okay,” I said, clapping my hands together.“On three, we lift and pretend this never happened.”I looked toward Cynthia.“Cynthia, grab under the arms.Rose, moral support.I’ll do the heavy lifting because apparently, I’m the designated crisis handler.”
Cynthia sighed.“I’m marrying an idiot.”
“Correct,” I said.“But he’s your idiot.And tomorrow, when he wakes up with regret and shame, we will never let him forget this moment.”
“Hey!”Chris exclaimed.“I thought we were pretending this never happened.”
“Sure thing, buddy.Eat your fries.”
On three, we lifted, or I lifted, nearly giving myself a hernia, and we got Chris into the room.Took a few tries to get him to bed, though.
Rose and I headed back to our room and closed the door behind us, once again leaving the outside world where it belonged.
An awkward silence spread between us, and I hated that more than anything.Silence had never been uncomfortable or awkward between us.It was what we both needed at times, and we could sit in it together, not feeling the need to fill the void.We were content to just be.
Maybe that’s where I went wrong.Maybe she wasn’t happy being content.Maybe I’d mistaken contentment for enough.Maybe I could have done more.Could have had more thrilling conversations.Given her fireworks instead of a steady flame.I could have put on my Wyatt face for her as I did for everyone else.Maybe—
Her hand pressed against my cheek.“Stop,” she said gently.
“Huh?”
She smiled and traced her finger along my eyebrow.“This eyebrow gets all twisted up when your brain is going a mile a minute.It’s very unattractive.”
“That’s very comforting.”
“And yet, you somehow look less tortured now.”
She knew me.All those times of sitting in silence hadn’t been empty moments; they’d been intentional.She knew how to quiet the inner monologue in my head.
