“I’m going to finish cleaning up,” she said quickly.
Smooth move, idiot, Emmy thought as she retreated back into the kitchen. She’d seen the look on his face. She had been so determined not to kiss him again. It was vital that she maintain a certain distance, both physically and emotionally. The quick peck during dinner shouldn’t have messed her up like this. It had been perfunctory. It had been brief. It had been… wonderful, she admitted to herself, as she scrubbed a saucepan. The question was: Was kissing Will wonderful because of what they were together, or because he had some sort of romantic superpowers due to his origins? She hated that she was questioning that. She was basically calling him a robot just like she’d insinuated about his parents, and she knew very well he wasn’t.
“I think we should take a trip,” Will said, cutting into her thoughts.
“A trip?” Emmy repeated, turning to look at him over her shoulder. She couldn’t hold back the wince when she saw he was sipping from a fresh glass of wine.
Will scowled, having caught the look, and deliberately took a big gulp of his drink before continuing. “I wasthinking we should go somewhere. I’m curious if the world even exists outside Cobalt, you know? Like… if this place is the setting for a book, will the people and places that aren’t relevant to the story even be there outside of town? If we fly to Paris, is the plane even going to land or is the pilot going to announce we have to turn around due to engine failure?” He drank again, instinctively. “I am officially jobless. Got all the time in the world. Let’s go somewhere.”
“We can’t fly anywhere, remember?” Emmy told him. “Buying plane tickets requires ID, and I don’t have any.”
Will frowned into his wine. “Shit, I forgot about that. Okay, so we’ll drive somewhere. Jared suggested I buy a motorcycle. We could just pick a direction and go.”
Emmy had never been on a motorcycle in her life, and she didn’t like the way her stomach clutched at the thought of spending hours pressed against Will’s back, her arms wrapped around him. Women in romance novels never seemed to be able to maintain their self-control after a motorcycle ride.
“Motorcycles are dangerous.”In more ways than one, she added silently.
Will shrugged. “I probably can’t even die. It’s not part of the book or whatever.”
Emmy hung the dishtowel up and turned to face him fully. “And you’re willing to test that? What if my being here changes that?” Worse, what if her being there meant that Cobalt would cease to exist if she left? It wasn’t a real city. If the rest of the United States was the same asherUnited States, would they be able to navigate back? Even if the roads around Cobalt existed, there was nothing to saythe turnoffs that led to the fake town would remain after her and Will’s departure. Her presence was changing things left and right. There was no way to know what effect she had on the geography around her.
“Alright, relax.” Will held up a hand for peace. “We’ll take my car. Do you want to try to drive to Minneapolis? I know it would take a few days, but we’ve got time. You wanted to try to find the sex psychic right? To see if she can help us find a way out?”
Emmy shook her head. “I think I’m going to trust Google on this one. No such person or sex shop exists in Minneapolis or anywhere else in the U.S. It isn’t worth driving for days just to confirm that she isn’t hiding out in Minneapolis in secret or something.”
“Alright, where should we go, then?”
Emmy looked into his eyes, noted his open and eager expression, then glanced down at his mostly empty wine glass. How many more blows could he take? He may have guessed that Cobalt wasn’t a real place, but that was a big leap for him to find out definitively. It wasn’t clear how he’d react. He might shrug it off, or it might make everything worse. Her eyes drifted back to the glass in his hand. Things had already tipped from bad into worse, if she was being honest with herself, and she dreaded what would happen if Will took another emotional hit.
“What?” Will asked when the silence had gone on too long. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. You just put me on the spot.” She took a moment. Took a breath. He was looking at her with a light in his eyes that she hadn’t seen too often since she’d met him and thrown his world off its axis. They were in a romancenovel. All bets were off. “Let’s just drive. No destination, no goals. Just pick a direction and go. North. North sounds good, right?”
The light intensified, making Emmy want to reach out and hold him. Just hold on tight. “North sounds great. We’ll hit the road and see what happens.”
“Sounds like a plan. Tomorrow? I’m meeting your mother in the morning, but we can leave from the farm when I’m done.”
“Sure, that works. Sunday is a good day for a drive with no destination. I’m looking forward to it.”
“Me, too.” She prayed Cobalt would still be there when they returned. There was just one other thing she had to clear up. It felt urgent and immediate; she couldn’t let it go, no matter how hard the conversation might be. “Will.” Emmy reached out and took hold of his arm. He looked down at her and she felt her heart give a little stutter as she realized how close they were. She could feel the ridges of muscle in his forearm and the warmth of his body. He was as real to her as her own sister, and his earlier words had made her desperately afraid that he didn’t share her belief in his existence. “Promise me you won’t… test the limits of your mortality, okay? Can we just agree that it’s possible for you to die and that you shouldn’t push your luck? Please?”
“Emmy, I’m not about to go driving off a cliff.”
“Just promise me.”
He smiled a little and reached out to run a finger lightly down her cheek. “Okay. I promise. No unnecessary risks. I’ll look both ways before crossing the street and everything.”
She breathed a sigh of relief. “Thanks.”
It didn’t occur to her that she was still squeezing his arm until his gaze dropped to her mouth. The warmth in his eyes made her pulse ratchet up. Time stood still as they both waited to see what would happen next. When he leaned closer, she found herself holding her breath.
“Okay… maybe one quick risk,” he murmured, and lowered his mouth to hers.
His mouth was warm and gentle, but more insistent than it had been when they’d first kissed beneath the wind chime. Emmy sighed, a little sound of pleasure and acceptance, as he coaxed her mouth open, gently so gently. His arm came around her waist and he pulled her flush against him. Lips parted, they tasted each other.
And Emmy froze.
He tasted like wine.
