“Well, the rare chance you do talk, you keep your answers short. And a little abrupt,” she said the last part lower as if she could offend me. Naomi could shove a knife in my gut, and I’d remain unbothered. She didn’t know how much she already had a hold on me.
“Sometimes conversations feels weird to me,” I confessed. “They’re minefields.”
“Shy people tend to say that. You know what?”
“What?”
“From this point on, I’m determined to get a genuine smile out of you…no, a laugh. You deserve a good laugh.”
I snorted. “I smile and laugh. It won’t be much of a win.”
“I haven’t seen you do anything but frown since I’ve met you. Maybe occasional winces, but that’s on good days.”
“Really?” I tried to think back to all our interactions. Surely, there had to be one time when we spoke where I gave her some sign I liked being around her? I had to have slipped up once. It was hard not to when she was around.
“Never,” she promised.
“I suppose I haven’t found much to smile about lately.” Lies. White lies felt so easy and so dangerous, and they were piling up around me. There was plenty to smile about whenever I spoke to Naomi online or offline.
Nerves flowed through my blood when I remembered the text she sent. She wanted to meet, and I still wasn’t ready. How was I going to put things off? Especially now that she was warming up to me. Which meant Finn was on her good side and, Mid might not be. Jeez. What a mess.
“We’ll find something. I’ll get you to smile for me, one way or another,” Naomi teased.
My stomach flipped. Smile for her? Fuck. Whatever she wanted, I’d give it to her. I'm willingly wrapped around her finger.
Naomi’s hand moved so our fingers intertwined. She was trying to reach for the wall again, so I didn’t read too much into the change in hand placement. My thumb pressed against the back of hers. It took an insane amount of concentration for me to not trace circles on her skin.
“And it’ll be genuine.” She beamed at me. “I’ll make sure of it.”
“Sounds like it’s shaping up to be quite a challenge,” I joked. “You up for it?”
“Oh, definitely. There’s not a doubt in my mind I’m the woman for the job.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Finn
Thehousewasagoddamn mess. Not in the cleanliness department, of course. Naomi’s skill and dedication were impeccable. We didn’t deserve her.
It was the handywork that’d fallen through the cracks.
Our landlords skimped on the upgrades and weren’t the best at keeping up with our growing list of requests. There were loose steps on the deck—one of which Naomi almost slipped on before I caught her the other day. The windowpanes on the front door were covered with a temporary screen. Our bathroom faucets leaked, and the door stuck. Most importantly, Naomi still didn’t have a lock. So, I decided it was time to rise to the occasion.
I’d taken Aden’s advice on approaching my memories. Instead of trying to mold into who I once was, I attempted to create him instead. Easier said than done, but my first step was leaning into what I wanted to do. Surprisingly to everyone around me, I wanted to fix things.
There was an unexplainable amount of joy in figuring out how to un-stick a lock or re-panel a window. Working around a house felt a lot like knitting for me. I got to construct something useful out of materials that might have otherwise been cast aside.
After watching videos on how to fix common house issues, I stopped by the hardware store to get a lock. As soon as I got back to the house and stood in front of Naomi’s half-open door, I started feeling unsure about my decision.
“She’s out, man,” Lincoln noted when he caught me staring at Naomi’s door. “Tutoring or something.”
“Yeah, I know.” I nodded without looking away.
“Okay…” He opened the fridge, grabbed what he needed, and stood at the counter to watch me. “Then what are you doing?”
“Thinking,” I said.
“Thinking?”
