“Are you okay?”
“Just cold,” she said. Her dress was no longer pale and summery—the color had darkened into a deep, sodden purple.
I took off my jacket and held it in front of the fire. It was completely drenched too, but the lining was dry.
“Here,” I said. “This should be warm.” Her skin looked paler than it should. “Come and sit by the fire.”
I opened a cupboard next to the fireplace, and a thick woolen rug tumbled out. It looked surprisingly clean, considering how dusty the room was.
“Let’s sit on this,” I said. “Better than the floor.”
I laid it out in front of the fire, and she sat next to me,knees pulled up under her chin. I placed the jacket gently around her shoulders and held it there, my hand pressed into her arm. After a few minutes, the shivering stopped and she loosened her grip on the lapel of my coat, her shoulders softening.
“I thought France was meant to be hot in August,” she said, giving me the side-eye. “If I’d known it would be like this, I’d have brought my wellies.”
“Perhaps we didn’t time our forest walk very well,” I said.
The fire was really strong now, and her skin shone under the glow.
“I’m not sure how,” she said, “but I always seem to end up completely wet when I’m with you.”
She froze and looked at me, then popped a hand over her mouth.
“Oh,” she said, “I didn’t mean—”
I raised a brow.
“What didn’t you mean?”
“Nothing.”
I chuckled and stroked a hand down over her wet hair, smoothing it back off her forehead.
“You know what we could really do with right now?” I asked.
“What?”
“A Flamin’ Hot Cheetos Snuggie.”
“Oh my God,” she said. “I’d kill for one. Two matching ones, his and hers. And a bottle of Harveys Bristol Cream.”
“And an eighties romance?”
“Definitely.”
She dropped her head onto my shoulder.
“Did you really mean it?” she said. “What you said before.”
“No,” I said. “I have to be honest.”
“Oh.” She sat up and turned to me.
“I hate sherry,” I said. “I was faking it to make you like me.”
“Liam!” She tapped me playfully on the knee and laughed. “I meant, did you mean what you said about how this… matters. Me and you.”
“More than anything,” I said.
