Page 47 of Blueline Baby

“You’re being so weird,” she says to the floor.

“I’m being completely normal.”

“You’re being weird, Jack.” She gets her left shoe off and just sits there, staring blankly at the wall.

And that’s when I actually stop and look at her. She looks absolutely exhausted.

“Hey.” I sit down right next to her. “You okay?”

“I’m so tired.”

“You slept eleven solid hours on Sunday.”

“I know.”

“And I brought you dinner from your favorite Thai place the other day, and you barely ate two bites of it.” I bump her knee gently with mine. “What’s going on with you, baby?”

She stares at me for a second. Then she leans over and just drops her forehead against my shoulder.

“My classes are super hard this semester,” she says into my shirt. “I’m behind in both of my labs. I’m just totally run down.”

“Oh, baby.” I press my mouth against the top of her head. “I bet I could make you feel better.”

“You could not.”

“I’m just saying, I have a pretty excellent track record.”

“I can’t.” She laughs, but it turns into a heavy moan as I dig both my hands into her lower back and start rubbing. “I’m sorry. I’m so exhausted I could literally cry.”

I pull her shirt carefully off over her head. She starts to protest, so I kiss the top of her bare shoulder before she can get the words out. I kiss a slow path down her arm until I get to her hand, turning it over to kiss the center of her palm.

“Jack, I meant it.”

“I’m not trying anything.” I start on her other shoulder, following the exact same path down her arm. “I just like how soft you are.”

“You don’t have to do all this,” she says quietly.

“I know.”

“I can get into bed.” She yawns widely as she says it. I reach over and lift the heavy blankets so she can crawl straight under them.

“Your normal nighttime routine takes forty-five minutes. Just lay down and close your eyes tonight.”

“Will you hold me for a minute?”

“I’ll hold you forever, Chloe.”

I get in the bed right behind her and she’s asleep in under two minutes.

I lie there in the dark and think about what’s going to happen in two weeks. I’ve got exactly fourteen days to come up with a plan, and it needs to be good.

Not big. Big is easy. I could pull off big by Thursday.

It needs to be the thing where she looks at me and completely knows I’ve been paying attention this entire time. Which is a much, much harder thing to buy. Honestly, I’m not sure it can be bought at all.

24

CHLOE