I tucked a damp tendril of hair behind my ear, wishing I’d thought to shower and change before I talked to him the first time. “I told you I don’t make sense.”
Theo smiled. “I don’t mind being confused, Sadie.”
He’d never said my name before, and hearing it in his deep, husky voice had the hairs on my forearms rising. “Well, there’s plenty more where that came from.”
“I don’t care. I’m just happy you’re talking to me.”
A siren wailed somewhere in the distance, the sound so commonplace now it should have become background noise. Every time I heard it, my stomach flipped. “If it helps, it was never about you.”
“It’s not you, it’s me.” His eyes warmed with affection. “I expected a more original line from you.”
“You don’t even know me.”
“Based on what I’ve seen,” he said, “and in my defence, getting to know you is like trying to hug a cactus.”
A laugh burst from me when I least expected it, and I looked him over in appreciation.
He seemed less hesitant today, and the tension in my shoulders loosened. “I’ll work on that,” I said.
“Good.” Theo tilted his head a fraction. “Want to share why you’ve kept your distance all this time?”
“No,” I blurted.
“Fair enough.” He grinned at my lightning-fast response. “Another time, maybe?”
“Maybe.” His t-shirt revealed the intricate artwork travelling down his arms to the backs of his hands, not a single glimpse of bare skin to be seen. I caught myself staring and forced my gaze upward. “Want to share why you stepped in with Dustin?”
The humour lingering in his eyes quickly faded. “It’s the way he gets into your personal space,” he said. “He wouldn’t do it to a man.”
I blinked in surprise. He’d noticed from the other side of the rooftop? Dustin’s behaviour had changed in recent months, sneaking up on me in small, subtle ways. We’d all become different people during lockdown, but where the rest of us were learning new hobbies or growing closer as a group, he’d perfected the art of pushing boundaries and dialling up the creep factor.
“If it makes you feel any better, he hasn’t been obvious about it before,” I said.
Theo’s hands remained in his pockets. A muscle twitched in his jaw. “He shouldn’t be doing it at all.”
The truth hit me hard, and I couldn’t think of a single reason to disagree with him. “I’ve been ignoring it in the hope it’ll go away.”
“How’s that working out for you?”
I blew out a loud breath. “His weird behaviour at the treadmill should tell you everything you need to know.”
We both went quiet for a moment, with only the swirling breeze and the barking of a neighbour’s dog keeping us company.
Theo pressed his lips together and directed his gaze at the TV behind me. Low voices relayed the same stories I’d watched before, a constant loop of stress and sickness that only made me worry even more about my sister. I kept my attention on Theo and shut out thoughts of Ava.
“Look,” he said, meeting my eyes again. “I know this is the first time we’ve talked, and I have no business making this request, but… promise me you won’t be alone with him?”
I glanced at the rooftop door as if Dustin might come slinking through any second. “Why would you say that?”
“He’s weird around Laura and the girls, but he’s fixated on you.”
Fixatedseemed a little over the top. I opened my mouth to protest, but Theo had nothing to gain by exaggerating, and I didn’t want to be alone with Dustin anyway. “All right,” I said slowly. “If he comes up here when I’m the only one outside, I’ll text someone or leave.”
His posture relaxed, and he smiled. “Thanks.”
We’d been strangers for nearly two years, so it would take longer than two minutes to become friends, but talking to him without stumbling over my words was more progress than I expected. “You know, you’re not that hard to be around,” I confessed, realising too late it might sound like an insult.
He laughed and took me in from head to toe. “You’re not as prickly as you seem, either.”
