“You’re staring at me.”
I shake my head, embarrassed. “Sorry, it’s just so weird.”
“What?”
“You, me…having breakfast in my kitchen. My cat has basically fallen in love with you.”
He laughs, scratching the little animal under her chin. As soon as he sat down, Caramel leapt into his lap. Usually, I don’t let her do that while I’m at the table – but he’s so gentle with her, so I’m letting all my usual neurotic tendencies slide. Just for this morning.
“You shouldn’t,” he says, interrupting my train of thought. “Don’t question it, try to make sense of it all.”
“I can’t help it.”
“You could try not to over-analyse everything.”
“It’s not that simple.”
“But it is, Jordan,” he says, his voice sweetening. “You just have to let things go. Stop fighting against them.”
“Are you just saying that because you want to get in my bed again?”
He smiles. “Honestly, I don’t know if it’ll happen again.”
And when he says it, so nonchalantly, I realise that he’s right: there’s a chance it won’t happen again. The thought turns my mind completely upside-down.
“I have no plans for it to happen again – even though you think I do.”
“I never said that.”
“It happened. Neither of us expected it.”
I swallow down my irrational disappointment with a mouthful of eggs. I shouldn’t feel this way.
“And there’s no reason to sign another stupid agreement.”
Keeping my own bitterness from crawling up my throat won’t be easy; I take a huge gulp of coffee.
“No one will find out. You can trust me.”
“Okay.”
It’s the only word I’m able to say.
He gets down from the stool and looks at me.
“I should go, now.”
He shoves his hands into his pockets, and I realise only now that he’s fully-dressed.
Ready to disappear.
Ready to forget everything.
“I don’t want Skylar to wake up and realise I didn’t come home.”
“Of course.”
Another two words. I’m making progress.
