He frowns at me. ‘You said—’
‘I know what I said. That was my head speaking.’
‘Well, you’re right. It probably was for the best.’
‘Yeah. I mean, goodness knows how you could havepossibly resisted all the attention you must’ve had from fangirls over the last year.’
I mean to sound breezy, but my tone comes off as bitter.
He pushes the gear stick into Drive, but doesn’t set off.
‘Can we just …not,’ he says, glancing across at me, his dark eyebrows pulled together.
He sighs and stares out the windscreen, driving us out of the car park.
We head back to St Agnes in loaded silence, but my brain is close to short-circuiting. It’s weird seeing him drive. I keep glancing over at the length of his arms as he turns the steering wheel, noticing his casual flicks of the indicator lights and occasional glances in the rear-view mirror. He has a confidence behind the wheel that I find alarmingly sexy.
‘Are you staying at your place or Michael’s?’ he asks on our way round the one-way system.
‘Mine.’
He turns down the long road that leads to Trevaunance Cove and finally pulls up in front of my house.
‘I won’t be long,’ I say, reaching for the door handle.
He stares out his side window. ‘You did the work,’ he notes with surprise, spying the new hallway through the front door’s window panels.
‘You didn’t know?’
‘Honestly, I thought it was easier to not even ask after you.’
He meets my eyes – again, very briefly – before averting his gaze.
Easier forwhom?
Has he been hurting too?
‘Do you want to come in and see?’ I ask him impulsively. ‘You could leave this in the car park?’
There’s a small one just across the road.
‘Don’t you need to rush back?’ he asks, and yes, there it is, that slightly dry, sarcastic edge that lets me know hedidn’tlike seeing me with another guy.
‘Nothing’s happened yet,’ I blurt, which warrants another sharp look. ‘With Brendan, I mean.’
This time, when he turns his head away, an air of defeat seems to settle around his shoulders.
‘I reallydidn’texpect you to wait for me,’ he says gruffly as I watch the shadowing of his jaw, the hard press of his lips.
‘I didn’t even know if you were coming back …’
‘We said—’
‘Yes, I know, but God, Finn! Couldn’t you have warned me, like, a month ago? I would have waited that long, for Christ’s sake.’
He grins at me.
My heart flips again.
