I tried to shake my head. “No I’m not.”
“You are.” I could hear the smile in his voice. “You’ve been blinking in slow motion for twenty minutes.”
“I can hang,” I mumbled into his sleeve.
“You can’t.”
“Iwantto hang.”
“I know you do, baby,” he said, quieter now, bending so his cheek brushed my hair. “But you’re swaying like a drunk toddler.”
I let out a miserable little noise, somewhere between a laugh and a groan. “You’re mean.”
“And you’re adorable.” He kissed the top of my head. “It’s late. Let’s turn in, sweetheart.”
CHAPTER 56
The guest room was small. It was an office several lifetimes ago. You could still tell where the bookshelves had sat; the rest of the paint was sun-faded and dull. Mom never repainted — said that she liked the memories, and the aged look of the paint.
There were soft quilted blankets folded at the foot of the bed and a single lamp flickering in the corner like it was waiting for some gentle night just like this.
One bed. A full, not even a queen. Close enough, I could breathe her in without moving. I could still hear my mother humming from the kitchen, far too pleased with herself.
“Shesoplanned this,” Juniper whispered beside me, arms crossed as she stood just inside the doorway. “She totally did.”
“Of course she did,” I muttered, biting the inside of my cheek to keep from smiling. “She’s a menace.”
“She said she didn’t have time to clean your room.”
“She’s retired. She has time for everything.”
Juniper huffed, but I saw the corner of her mouth twitch. Shewasn’t mad. She was flushed. And maybe — just maybe — a little flustered. “Are we really sharing this bed?”
I turned, meeting her eyes. “We don’t have to.”
“But you want to,” she said softly.
God,of courseI did.
I shrugged one shoulder, as casually as I could manage. “Only if you do.”
Juniper took a breath, stepped inside. Pulled her sweatshirt tighter around her ribs like it was armor. “I mean. It’s not like we haven’t?—”
“Right.”
“—done worse.”
“Definitely.”
She moved first, finally — brushing past me with the faintest touch of her hand to my lower back. My whole body tensed like a live fucking wire. And then she crawled onto the bed, on top of the covers, curling onto the side closest to the wall. Curled up small and quiet, like a cat, blinking at me with eyes already soft from sleep.
“Come on, then,” she said. “Before I get cold.”
I didn’t let her say it twice. I clicked off the lamp, pulled my shirt over my head, and slid in beside her. We didn’t touch at first. Just lay there, barely breathing, trying to figure out what the rules were.
“For the record, cowboy. I want to, too.” She whispered as she scooted towards me. Just enough so that her spine brushed my chest.
And that was it. The universe tilted. Everything slowed.
