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The pain in his tone felt like a barb in my throat. I swallowed around it, sure I was bleeding now. “You found me.”
“Promise.” For a moment, when he squeezed his eyes closed and inched closer, I didn’t think he’d go on. But when he did, his lips were so close to mine, I could taste his breath. “Promise you, I always will.”
His large palm curled around my face, his fingers tangling in the back of my hair while his thumb traced the side of my mouth. I was lost in his warmth, his possibilities. A whimper fell from my lips and he tightened his grip around me.
“Let’s get you home.”
10
LEE
Things had changed in the week since Christmas. I’d intended on keeping my promise to the O’Connors. I’d wanted to sleep downstairs in my own room. I’d tried that first night, only to be torn from my sleep again and again. Her nightmares came back with a vengeance, and I only had myself to blame, my own promise to her parents keeping me from her side, those precious minutes where I could have been calming her were wasted as I ran up the stairs.
But still, each night I tried. And gradually, those nightmares faded.
“This one.” Kelly handed me one of the sheets of paper she’d stolen from my hands minutes ago, then stifled a yawn.
She was on the couch beside me, her feet over the back, her head on the cushion by my shoulder, her hair its own entity, taking up space and snaking its way across my neck and chest. I could barely move to reach for the page, for fear I’d pull her hair right from her head.
She turned just enough to move it from beneath my arm. I took the page, but froze, attention snagging on her aqua eyes.
I considered it progress that she didn’t flinch when our eyes met. That she didn’t tear up when she saw the remnants of the new wounds she’d slashed across my face. I relished that trust she placed in me. She no longer jerked away every time we accidentally touched while passing each other. She stood at my side after lunch and dinner, too, cleaning the dishes after our meals. She’d stopped avoiding her parents’ calls when they contacted me to check in on her, and she’d agreed to go to the psychotherapy appointment I’d done everything in my power to secure for her. I’d had to use Frankie’s and Vinny’s names to get her seen so quickly, but I could hardly feel guilty for that.
“You should hire this one.” She tore her gaze from mine and looked toward the paper in my hand. Tossed her hair from her face, only for it to hit mine and fan across my shoulder when it fell.
“Why?” I’d been trying to drag her out of her head, asking questions to get her to talk to me so I could connect with her. We were alone here. Other than Christmas, I had yet to leave the house. Beyond the few times I’d had groceries delivered, the only one who’d even stepped foot on the front stoop was my employee, Weston Abrams. Since I couldn’t leave to pick up the files I needed at the office, I’d had him drop them here. “Haven’t even interviewed her yet.”
Kelly shrugged one shoulder, and the movement tugged her hair from mine. She turned back to me. “I don’t know. Something just… feels right.”
“Yeah?”
She didn’t speak for a moment. I was tempted to draw away, to give her space, because the last thing I wanted was to scare her away again. But Kelly didn’t budge, and I couldn’t bring myself to be the first to move.
“Something about her feels right.” She’d said the same thing about one other potential employee, though she hadn’t even seen his résumé.
“You think I should call her?”
Her lip quirked up, and damn, if my heart didn’t kick in my chest at the sight. “Put her on the list.”
The corners of my mouth, which had twisted upwards to match hers, fell. “You sure about this?”
She didn’t need to ask what I was questioning. She’d been pressuring me to use tomorrow to get out of the house, since she’d be at the appointment with her new therapist.
Kelly’s eyelids fluttered shut. When she opened them again, she didn’t look at me. “There’s no point in you putting your entire life on hold for me—”
“Kelly—”
“I mean it, Lee.” She twisted on the couch until she was lying on her side, her knees pulled to her chest while her body sat at a crooked angle to help her fit on the cushion behind me. Her attention danced around the spray of her hair that fanned my chest before she reached up and pulled it away with one swipe of her hand. “You have a life. I don’t expect you to stop living and working because I messed up.”
“What did I tell you about talkin’ that way?”
“That it’s stupid.”
Fuck. Hadn’t meant to say that out loud two days ago. I’d been frustrated that she kept putting herself down and I wanted her to stop. She’d latched onto my words, internalizing them, and increasing my guilt every time she brought it up.
“You know that’s not what I meant.” I turned toward her. Moved a strand of hair that’d fallen across her face. My fingertip brushed her skin, and I felt like the hazy pink color of her cheeks was pulsing up my arms, turning me the same shade.
She snagged my hand, drawing it away from her face, but not letting go. “I know. But you should call her. And that Van guy, too. Set up appointments for tomorrow since you’ll be free.”
