“I saved you.”
“To buy your own freedom.”
“A man can have more than one motive.”
I swallow, thrown off balance.
It’s not so much his words as the way he says them—and the way he looks at me when he says them.
Behind me, the doors open, letting in the pitter patter of rain.
I turn around and see Jude sweeping inside, shaking out his hair. He smiles at me, his dimples on full display. I look over my shoulder where Rafe just was, but is no more.
None the wiser, Jude takes my hand and we step into the auditorium.
59
FAIRYTALE ENDINGS
Twig was right about the weather.
The rain stops.
By the time we’re done with the musical and pizza at the Ember Oven, fog rolls thick over the roads. It swallows the grounds as Jude pulls into the estate. Not until he stops next to the carriage house do I make out an unfamiliar car parked next to my dad’s Bronco.
“Who’s that?” Jude asks.
“I have no idea.” I unbuckle my seatbelt. “Maybe my dad is entertaining a lady.”
Jude opens my door and walks me to the front, where a solitary porch light glows.
“That was quite the show,” he says, his hands tucked deep into the pockets of his bomber jacket.
He looks ridiculously good in it.
“I think it should have ended after act one,” I tell him.
“That would negate the whole point.”
“Which is?”
“Life isn’t a fairytale.”
I sigh. “I don’t know. I kinda like fairytale endings.”
“Says the girl obsessed with Freddy Krueger.”
A smile tugs at my mouth.
He slips his hands into the pockets of my coat and pulls me closer.
I tilt my face up to his. “Hey,” I say.
“Hey,” he says back.
We smile at each other for a bit.
I’ve been smiling at him a lot lately.
