“You’re good with her,” she whispered.
“She’s been good to me, too,” I said. “I think we all needed someone.”
Blair looked at me then, really looked. “Why did you neverleave this town?”
I thought about it. “Because this place has roots. Even when it hurts, it still pulls you back. And now you’re here.”
Her breath caught. “Greyson…”
“You don’t have to say anything,” I said. “Just let me be here with you.” She didn’t pull away.
Chapter 10
Blair
I was folding baby clothes.
Tiny onesies, soft and cotton-scented. Some still had the tags on. Madison had gone all out, pastel yellows and soft greens, prints with turtles and clouds. I smiled at a pair of footie pajamas and pressed them to my chest, wondering what Olive would look like when she wore them.
Then the floor creaked behind me.
I stiffened.
Madison’s house had old bones. The kind that spoke in groans and quiet footsteps. But something about the sound, sharp, deliberate, sent my pulse skittering.
I turned, expecting Madison.
No one.
My heart thudded harder.
I looked back at the pile of laundry, willing my hands to move, but they’d gone cold. The room seemed smaller now. Closer. Dimmer, even though sunlight was pouring through the blinds.
And then,
The office door clicking shut behind me.
I blinked. The nursery dissolved. Pale yellow walls faded into wood-paneled darkness. My hands trembled as I stared at the clothes but saw none of them. I smelled his cologne, toostrong, musky, sour. The room had been warm, and the heat had made me dizzy.
“Just stay quiet, Blair.”
The words weren’t real. I knew that. But they still rang in my ears like a warning.
I took a shaky step backward and bumped into the crib. A strangled sound escaped me, half-whimper, half-gasp.
The present snapped back all at once.
I was in Madison’s house. Safe. Alone.
But my body didn’t believe it. My breath came in short, shallow bursts. I sank to the floor, hugging my knees as tears slipped down my cheeks, fast and quiet.
Why couldn’t this stop?
Why did my mind keep dragging me back to a place I’d worked so hard to escape?
A soft knock on the door jolted me.
“Blair?” Madison’s voice.
