Page 22 of Ex Somnis

I drop my hand to find Tessa is watching me with a slight smile.

“What?” I ask.

“Nothing.” She chuckles. “You just went somewhere.”

“I’m right here.”

“Mm.” She takes a sip of wine and doesn’t push it, which is generous of her.

My heart does a small flutter that I can’t explain. I look at my hand where it rests on the table. Five fingers. Lemon nails. Nothing unusual.

Tired, I tell myself. Long service. It’s late.

The garden door opens, and he’s already most of the way into the room before I clock the sound of it. He’s carrying a single rose, deep red at the center, fading to gold at the tips. He crosses to Tessa, sets it in front of her, and presses a kiss to her cheek with the ease of someone who’s done this a thousand times.

She beams at him. “You’re late.”

“I was in the garden.”

“For hours?”

“Finding the right one takes time.”

Why would he be out in the garden this late?

I turn to look out of the window, but where it should be night, it looks like the sun is beginning to set.

Weird.

He sits beside her and puts an arm around her shoulders, his gaze moving across the table, noticing the wine before his eyes find mine.

“Hello,” he greets as if he’s only now seeing me.

“Hi.”

“How was the service?”

“Good.” I fill the empty wine glass beside the bottle and push it toward him. “We figured out what the sauce needed.”

He takes a sip without hesitation as he considers it.

“Lemon.”

“Lemon. You okay, baby?”

The echo of that voice, filled with concern, washes over me, and I forget where I am.

“Lenny?”

I shake my head. “What?”

“I said,” he repeats mildly. “The sauce needs lemon.” He takes another sip. “Are you all right?”

“Fine.” I swirl the wine in my glass. “Just… tired.”

“She already knew.” Tessa shrugs. “She just needed someone else to say it.”

Something new in his eyes registers as he considers me that I don’t know what to do with. It’s not warmth, exactly, but more like interest.