“I don’t even remember you taking this,” I said as Ward approached, setting the frame back where it’d been.
“I guess you wouldn’t, I was always taking pictures,” Ward said. “But that one… that one’s special.”
“I barely remember being that young,” I said. “Why this one?”
Ward shrugged. “I dunno. Captures something, I think. That’s a real smile on your face there. I dunno how many real smiles of yours I have from when we were kids.”
“You must’ve seen most of them,” I said, backing away from the table as my gut twisted.
Ward had a point. I wasn’t sure how many real smiles of mine had ever been captured on camera, despite my career being in front of one. The last thing I wanted right now was to talk about that.
“This place is incredible. I’d say I can’t believe you built it all yourself, but I guess I can. There was never anything you couldn’t do if you set your mind to it.”
Ward snorted, but when I turned to look at him he smiled the sweetest, shyest smile at me, and my knees threatened to give out again. As if I hadn’t had enough happen to me this week, it was incredibly unfair that my long-lost best friend had grown up hot.
Hot and exactly my type.
And exactly as unavailable as he’d always been.
Not that I wanted him to be available.
Not that I knew what I wanted, aside from a really, really,reallylong nap.
I covered a yawn just as I was imagining sinking into a soft feather bed, the thought of it enough to force me to stifle a moan.
“You need to sleep,” Ward said.
“Yeah,” I agreed. “Can I borrow the couch?”
“You can have the bed,” Ward said. “For as long as you’re staying. However long that is.”
I blinked at him. “Staying… here?” I asked, looking around the cozy little cabin again.
It was a nice place. Better than some impersonal Airbnb or being hovered over in one of the local regular bed and breakfast places. I hadn’t given any thought to where I’d stay, I’d just been focused on getting out of LA.
Ward shrugged. “If you don’t want to, it’s fine. But there’s space for you here, and it’s really, y’know, secluded. No one’s gonna bother you. Except me, obviously, but I’ll try to—”
“I’d love to stay,” I said.
Maybe it was weak, and maybe it was too much to ask, but dammit, Ward was practically the only person in my life volunteering to be my friend right now. I wanted that. Ineededthat.
Ward’s face lit up like stage lights. “Good.”
The tension I could feel in every muscle in my body eased off a notch.
I hadn’t been inside a room in days that didn’t feel like the walls were closing in on me until now.
“Bed’s upstairs,” Ward continued after a heartbeat. “Think you can make it alone? Or do you need me to carry you?”
A startled laugh escaped me. He probably could have managed it, and I couldn’t help imagining myself being scooped up like a princess, like I’d done in so many movies, and being carried up to bed.
It might’ve been nice, just once, to be the princess.
But it wasn’t Ward’s job to do that. He was already doing more for me than I had any right to ask for.
“I can make it alone,” I said, heading for the stairs.
Minutes later I was collapsing into a bed that smelled of fresh air and cedar and Ward, and for a handful of seconds, everything was okay.
