His touch zinged through me.
“You can’t call me and panic unless there’s something to really panic over,” I explained, feeling my heart kick up for a different reason all together.
He was stroking the back of my hand in a soothing, tender gesture.
“I’ll be better about it next time,” he promised.“But I really do need you.”
Need you.
It was his battle cry to my heart.
“What happened?”I asked, finally tugging my hand free so I could unzip my coat.
“Everything was fine.We were laughing and doing her class project.She was asking me a bunch of questions about my side of the family and then suddenly she got up, grabbed Mildred and ran off to her room.”
“Did you go after her?”I held onto the wall while I worked off a shoe.
“Did I go—of course I went after her!I knocked on her door and asked her what I’d said to make her upset, but she told me to go away.So, I went away.”
He ran his fingers through his hair, mussing it.
I wished I’d been the one to muss it.
“So, will you go find out what insensitive man thing I said and be my ambassador?”
I couldn’t stop myself from patting his cheek.“Sure thing, Archie.”
He quickly turned his head and kissed my palm.
I swallowed.
Dangerous territory.
I jogged up the stairs.When I was standing outside of Lenni’s room, I heard the faintest sound of music coming from behind her closed door.
I knocked.When there was no reply, I knocked again and called out, “I come in peace!”
A moment later, she yelled back, “Enter!”
I turned the knob and opened the door.Lenni was sitting on her bed, back against the wall instead of the headboard.Mildred was in her lap.
Music I didn’t recognize streamed on an old tablet connected to a Bluetooth speaker that rested on her nightstand.
I closed the door behind me and then went to the tablet and picked it up.
“What are you doing?”she asked.
“Changing the music.This is not the best for sitting and feeling.Whatever it is.”I looked at her.“Trust me?”
She nodded.
After a few swipes, Simon & Garfunkel’s “Sound of Silence” filtered through the room.
Lenni’s brows slashed together as she listened, but then they eventually smoothed out.
“Good, right?”I asked with a wink.
She sighed.“Good.”
