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I cupped her cheek. “You have to trust me. Okay? I know I haven’t been home much. I know you’ve sacrificed your weekends with me for something you’re not sure about yet. But I promise you, with everything we are, that none of this has to do with me not wanting to be here. All right? I swear it. Give me until tomorrow morning and you’ll see. Do you trust me?”
She sighed. “Does this have to do with the house?”
“You’ll have to trust me.”
“Clint, is something wrong?”
I cupped her face with both of my hands. “Do you. Trust me?”
She searched my eyes. “Yes. Of course I trust you.”
“Then trust me on this.”
“No more weekends gone.”
I nodded. “You have my word.”
“And no more late nights. I don’t like this. I don’t like how it feels and what my mind does when you’re gone like that.”
My lips fell against hers in a soft kiss. “I love you. And only you. Don’t ever let your mind convince you of that.”
Her forehead pressed against mine. “I love you, too.”
With one last kiss, I released her to the bedroom. I watched her walk into the darkened expanse with the smallest limp and made a mental note to give her a massage once I crawled into bed. I just had to take a shower, brush my teeth, and get these damn clothes off me.
But first, some food.
I turned to look for the bag of cold food. Because at this point, cold food was better than no food. Something caught my eye, though. Something by the front door. It looked yellow, almost. Yellow, and white.
“What the hell?” I murmured.
I walked over to the random object on the floor and found it wasn’t an object at all. Rather, it was a present. The tissue sticking out of the top was white and yellow, just like the sparkling bag. The ribbon handles felt soft against my fingertips. I picked it up, furrowing my brow as I walked back toward the hallway.
“Hey, Rae? What’s this?”
And when I walked into our bathroom to show her the gift bag, I watched her eyes widen.
7
Rae
“Hey, Rae? What's this?”
My eyes widened as his words hit my ears. The toothbrush in my hand stopped moving as foam dripped from my lips. Where had I put that gift? I could’ve sworn I picked it up. I had every intention of putting it in the closet for a rainy day. That gift certainly wasn’t appropriate for tonight, anyway. My eyes locked with the mirror as I watched him stand in the doorway. I saw the yellow and white sparkling bag dangle from his fingertips. My heart froze in my chest. I felt my legs go numb. Oh, no. How in the world could I have forgotten to put that away?
He grinned sheepishly. “Did you buy me a present? Is that why you wanted me home so badly?”
I shook my head and started mumbling, but I felt foam dripping onto my shirt. I wiped it away and quickly turned around, trying my best to finish up my teeth for the night. Clinton chuckled as I jammed my face beneath the faucet. I rinsed my mouth out and let my toothbrush sit at the bottom of the sink. With traces of toothpaste still sitting on my chin, I whipped back around, trying to wrack my brain for some way to pry that gift out of his hands.
And when I saw that he already had a ball of tissue paper in his hand, I panicked.
“What was that? I think you had your mouth full.”
“Wait!”
He paused, his eyes staying connected with me. “Okay. Why?”
What in the world am I going to say? If he looks down, he’ll see that damn test!
