“Maybe I’d like to get something pierced,” Gran muses. She grins over her shoulder at us. “What do you think, Henry? Maybe I – oh!”
Gran stumbles backward to avoid colliding headfirst with someone. “I’m so sorry, dear,” she apologizes. “I wasn’t watching where I was going.”
“It’s no problem at all,” a familiar voice says. One that has my heart plummeting down somewhere in the vicinity of my knees. I look over Gran’s head and see Elsie, smiling kindly at my grandmother and tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear. It’s woven back into a braid today, with little white flower clips – daisies, I think – placed throughout it.
As if feeling the weight of my stare on her, Elsie looks up, her mouth dropping open in surprise before settling into an easy smile.
“Declan. Hi.”
“Hey, Elsie.”I hadn’t noticed the time as we were leaving, or been paying any attention to what was going on next door, for once.If I’d known it was closing time for The Floral Chic, I would have stalled to avoid this exact interaction that we’re having now.
“Elsie?” my mother and grandmother repeat in unison. I inwardly groan, already knowing where this is headed.
I thought I wanted the floor to open up and swallow me whole before, but I was wrong.Nowwould actually be a good time for that crater to appear.
“We’ve heard so much about you,” Gran says, sliding her arm though Elsie’s like they’re old friends, instead of two complete strangers who quite literally just ran into each other.
“Really?” Elsie looks over at me, and I can tell by the shit-eating grin on her face that she knowsexactlyhow uncomfortable this entire exchange is making me. It eases some of my nerves.
“Elsie, this is my mother, Sasha, and my grandparents, Joyce and Henry. Everyone, this is Elsie.”
Hellos and handshakes are exchanged while I watch, wondering how I’m going to extract myself from this situation with minimal damage. I’m about to make an excuse for our exit when someone blurts out, “Would you like to join us for dinner?”
My head whips toward my mother, the shock plain on my face. I’d expect a question like that from Gran, but not her.
“Oh, I…” Elsie’s voice trails off, and she looks at me. I can read the question in her eyes as clearly as if she’d spoken it aloud:Do you want me to?
I don’t. Not because I don’t want to spend time with Elsie – god, that’s all I ever want.
But not tonight. Not with my present company. Not when I haven’t told her anything about my past or how these three people fit into it.
The last thing I want is a witness to my fucked up family dynamic, but what choice do I have? With those big, beautiful hazel eyes looking up at me, I do the only thing I can.
I hold my hand out in invitation, and my entire body heaves a sigh of relief when she slips her hand into mine. Despite my dread for this dinner, having her so close settles something inside me.
Elsie smiles up at me then, and she might as well be reaching her fist right inside my chest, squeezing the organ that’s lain dormant for so long. The steadythump, thump, thumpof its cadence catches me off guard.
Growing up the way I did, I wasn’t sure if what was left of this heart of mine would ever work quite right. But she’s proven my worries to be in vain.
My heart still works, though it doesn’t feel much like mine anymore. Elsie carries it right in the palm of her hand, in the space where her skin meets mine and our fingers link together, and I don’t even think she knows it.
It didn’t take much. They were little things, really. A glance into those kind hazel eyes. The brush of her skin against mine. Our shared breaths on a rainy afternoon, our bodies tangled in such a way that we lost track of where I ended and she began.
That first, unexpected kiss, up on tiptoes with a delicate hand on my chest, the first time I knew for sure that I wasn’t in this thing alone.
If this cold, jaded heart of mine still works, it’s only because she showed up and brought it back to life. Taught it how to beat again. Showed it that good people exist in the world, and introduced it to a kind of sweetness I never thought was in the cards for a guy like me.
No, it didn’t take much. I glance down at her –
Thump. Thump. Thump.
My heart is beating, alright.
It beats for her.
Only her.
CHAPTER 32
