“You were half an inch from delivering a monologue to the trees.”
“I don’t do monologues.”
She arched a brow, still not looking at me. “You don’tusuallyunplug either. A lot of firsts lately.”
I crossed my arms. “You’re deflecting.”
“Am not.”
“You absolutely are.”
She paused, holding a bag of jumbo marshmallows in both hands like they were going to shield her.
And then she shrugged. “Maybe I’m just trying not to get my hopes up.”
That stopped me.
She said it quietly, tossing the bag into the bin and avoiding my eyes again, and suddenly I wasn’t thinking about Graham crackers, Florida, or emails.
I was thinking about the way her shoulders had hunched just slightly. The way her mouth tightened like she didn’t mean to say that out loud.
Whatever weight I’d put on her that morning, it was still there.
And I wasn’t sure how to fix it yet.
But I was damn sure going to try.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Fifi
I didn’t mean to move so fast.
Ben barely had time to react before I was halfway to the pantry, flinging the door open with more enthusiasm than strictly necessary. The s’mores bin was half-empty, and the Graham crackers had collapsed sideways like they were even giving up. Marshmallows scattered on the shelf like little ghosts.
I focused on it.
On the bin. The crackers. The mess. Anything but the weight in my chest that hadn’t gone away, even after his apology. Even after he said all the right things with that rough, sincere voice of his.
Because that was the problem.
Ben Jensen always sounded like he meant it, even when he didn’t know if he could.
And that scared me more than I wanted to admit.
“You know you don’t actually have to restock this now, right?” he asked from behind me, his voice still warm, still teasing. “I could’ve just... bought you dinner.”
“I like a well-stocked pantry,” I said lightly, crouching to sort the chocolate bars.
“You also like bolting when things get emotional.”
That made me freeze.
For just a second.
He was right.
I stood slowly and turned to face him. “You’re not exactly known for lingering in vulnerable territory yourself.”
