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Lucy’s face darts to mine, but then she just shrugs and shakes her head.
I stand in the doorway as John approaches. I can hear a woman’s voice loudly coming from the earpiece of his phone. He nods at me and I move to allow him entry and then return to my post, watching how he will navigate this phone call in Lucy’s presence.
Lucy gives him a brief smile as she lifts one of her bags over her shoulder. She then turns to the bookshelf and grabs a few of the books I left out for her. I don’t bother to contain the smile on my face. It’s the little things, intentional or not that Lucy keeps doing that reassure me.
As she wheels the larger suitcase to me in the doorway, she holds up the books and asks, “Is it okay if I bring these?”
Play it cool, Henry.“Oh sure, I forgot they were even in this room,” I take hold of her larger suitcases, and we make our way back to my bedroom without acknowledging John.
The first thing she does is pull multiple chargers out of her bag and plug them in next to the nightstand on her side of the bed.Her side of the bed.Then, she immediately charges her e-reader. I smile at her dedication to the machine. If I can not win her heart, I suppose losing to the greatest fictional men of all time is a proud defeat.
Thirty-One
LUCY
Before opening my eyes,I bask in the warmth and comfort of this bed. The mattress is just the right combination of soft and firm. The comforter and sheets lay delicately across my skin and certainly kept me warm throughout the night. I’m sure it cost a small fortune, but could one really put a price on the perfect night’s sleep?
The weight of the comforter shifts on top of me. My eyes shoot open, and I look down. It’s not the weight of the blanket I am wrapped up in—it’s Henry. His arm lays loosely around my chest while his leg is tucked between mine. Then his breath warms my skin as his head rests on the crook of my neck.
As the shock of our sleeping positions subsides, the desire I’ve been suppressing roars back to life. Every inch of my body is urging me to turn into his embrace, to face him and wake him with a kiss.
How did I get here?Could I still be sleeping? Is this a dream?
Could this be a reality for me?
If the fake relationship, production company, social media, and ex-boyfriend were removed, could I have a future with Henry? One wherewewake up in this bed every morning?
I give myself one brief moment to hope but then come back to reality. If that’s something I want, then first, I need to fix all those issues that need to be removed, starting with John.
I don’t want to wake Henry, on the chance he may too feel awkward about how we ended up in the night.I just don’t want to risk seeing the disappointment on his face when he wakes up snuggling me.
Delicately as I can, I slip out from under his embrace and head to the bathroom, closing the door quietly behind me.
During my shower, I remind myself not to cling too much to the hope of us being together. It’s desperately becoming something I want, but I don’t want it to be tangled up in all of this. I’ve had my fill of complicated relationships, and that’s the last thing I want with Henry.
I hear a loud knock over the running water. “Almost done in there?” Henry asks.
“Just another five minutes,” I yell back and hurry to make up for the time I spent standing under the showerhead daydreaming.
When I exit the bathroom with my towel tied tightly around my waist and my hair up in another, I am greeted with quite the show. Henry’s smile lights up before disappearing under the T-shirt he pulls up and over his head on the way into the bathroom. “Oh, good morning,”he says to me over his shoulder. I clutch my hairdryer and move over to my nightstand to plug it in.
I rush through my hair and makeup routine so that I can be downstairs in the kitchen by the time he exits the bathroom. I have a feeling he might walk out in nothing but his towel, and I don’t know if my heart can take that after waking up in his embrace.
Blissfully distracted by the large view of the snow-covered property, I wait for Henry to join me.
“The usual?” Henry asks.
“Yes, thank you.” My gaze remains outside. Even with all the trouble this snow has caused, I can’t bring myself to be too mad about it. “Beautiful view.”
“It certainly is,” Henry agrees. “Snow looks lovely too,” he adds.
I turn to him and roll my eyes.
“We could take a walk this morning if you’d like,” Henry suggests.
“That sounds great—I love being out in the snow.” Back in New York, when the snow fell, it meant an unexpected reprieve from the classroom. Mornings were spent shoveling. Leaving the rest of the day to spend relaxing with a movie or a book.
He leans against the island. “Could be a good place to take a picture for the social media accounts.”
