“You’re biting your lip,” he said. His voice was low and husky and made me feel a little giddy.
“I do it sometimes when I’m nervous.”
“Are you nervous?”
I nodded. “Yes.”
His smiled faltered slightly. “I’m also nervous.”
“YOU!?” I laughed. “The big Ryan Stark of Stark Leisure Group, in that big intimidating building with the purposely uncomfortable seats, isnervous?”
“I know. Hard to believe, isn’t it?” He smiled playfully at me, and I wanted to kiss him again.
He was so stupidly gorgeous! Especially when he sat on the grass and helped me with my plants. I leaned in and was just about to kiss him when . . .
I heard Emmy calling his name.
“Ryan,” her voice came from upstairs.
He turned and looked back at the house.
“Ryan!” she called louder.
“She sometimes has nightmares and wakes up in the middle of the night,” he said.
“That’s terrible.” I could relate to Emmy; sometimes I had these dreams about my mother too. In them, she was alive and then suddenly she started disappearing and I couldn’t stop her. I always woke with a start, drenched in sweat.
“Excuse me,” he said. He stood up and dusted the soil off himself. “I’m coming!” he shouted.
I stood up and followed him, and it suddenly hit me that I would need to tell Emmy the truth about who I was too. I wondered what she would think of me for lying.
We reached the house and I hung back in the doorway as Ryan spoke to Emmy.
“What’s wrong?” he asked softly.
She shook her head. “I don’t know. I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t find you in your study.”
“Sorry, I was in the garden.”
She looked at him strangely. “Doing what?”
“Uh . . . there’s been a bit of a pot plant emergency,” he said.
“What does that mean?”
Ryan stepped aside and revealed me standing in the doorway.
“Doris, what are you doing here?” she asked. She looked surprised and looked from Ryan to me and back again.
“Uh, what’s going on here? Why do you both look so weird . . . like you want to tell me something?”
“Well, I kind of do want to tell you something,” I said, stepping forward.
“What?” Emmy asked.
She looked at me with those big blue eyes of Ryan’s, and I didn’t know where to start.
“Maybe I should show you,” I finally said.
