He didn’t care who she was.
Didn’t care that she had a history of being Sami Jo.
He cared who she was today. Tomorrow. Next week.
Yeah, he wanted to understand why she ran so far and so long. Why the people who loved her let her keep running without slowing her down so she could see she wasn’t alone.
He’d never be able to thank Dan and Mach enough for slowing him down like that. Helping him stop running long enough to see things could be okay.
“What are you thinking?” she asked, their mouths only millimeters apart, their breaths mingling in the space between them.
“I think I know where Sami Jo went,” he murmured, the edge of his lips brushing against hers.
Her mouth made a small “O” of surprise.
Then, his lips still a breath away from hers, he hummed a little of the song.
She froze.
He continued humming.
“Stop.” She pushed away from him, pacing. Then she put an entire island of distance between them. “Don’t do that. Not that song.”
“You wrote it,” he said, and yeah, he probably should’ve used a gentler hand with this. But color him surprised that Sami Jo was in his kitchen. Sami Jo was in his arms. And he was falling for her.
“Sam,” he said. “Why are you hiding?”
“Because…” She stopped. Closed her eyes. A tear slipped out of the corner of her eyelid.
“I won’t tell anyone,” he assured. “I’m not that guy. You can trust me with this.”
“I can’t trust you,” she said. “I barely know you.”
“Is that the truth?” he asked, seriously. Because they may have only known each other for a little while but it was more than that. What they were was more than that already.
Another tear slipped out of the other eyelid. “I’m a joke. Sami Jo is a joke.”
“You’re an icon,” he countered.
“No.” She shook her head, adamant.
He shouldn’t push her on this. But he had to tell her. Wanted her to know that thing he’d needed to understand. “You’ve been running for years. You can stop now.”
That lit something inside her. “What do you know about it? You’re this mega star here in this enormous house with this amazing life and I’m…”
“You’re what?”
She pointed to her chest with both hands. Then she crossed them there. “I’m me, Tanner. I’m me.”
“Youare pretty spectacular.”
“Roses, Tanner,” she said, letting out a long breath. “A whole dozen of them. Please. You don’t understand.”
But he did. He got it more than most people ever would.
“I think I do,” he said. “I really think I do. But I promised you roses, and I won’t go back on that. Consider it dropped.” He mimed dropping a mic.
“I’m confused.” she said, her tone soft but with a low edge. “You said you understand, but how can you understand?”
