Page 172 of Dream On, Liar

“And, mostly, because?” I prompted.

“The only other clean room in this place, belonged to my parents—well, my Mum.” Something softened in his face. “It's been almost ten years. But the housekeepers my brother hired kept everything exactly as it was. Her clothes are still in there. The books beside the bed. Her perfume. The stupid little lamp she always complained didn’t work, but loved. I can literally feel her everywhere in that room. And it’s making it hard for me to breathe.”

He looked towards the dark hallway.

“And I don’t think I can sleep in there alone yet.”

Something squeezed around my heart.

“You don’t have to.”

He looked at me.

“Come with me.” I offered him a hand.

“What?”

“C’mon. We’ve shared a bed before. It’s not anything strange.”

A tightening at the corner of his mouth. A brief hesitation in his eyes, like something inside him had stepped back before I even finished speaking.

“Maeve…”

My name sounded like a warning in his voice.

Or maybe a plea.

I swallowed.

“Just for tonight. We can do something about it in the morning, but I can’t let you sleep on that. Do you really want a lecture about your shoulder at three in the morning?” I leaned forward slightly, frustration threading through the concern now.

“Okay,” he finally said.

And that was it.

The walk back to the room was quiet, but I slipped under the duvet first, instinctively choosing the side I’d been sleeping in before pulling the fabric up around me like armour I didn’t need anymore but still reached for anyway.

He stayed at the doorway for a second longer than necessary.

I looked at him. “You’re making this weird.”

His eyes flicked to me. “I’m not.”

“You are.” A pause. “Do you want a pillow fort tonight too?”

That made something in me loosen.

A real smile this time. “No point. You’d kick it away again.”

“How do you know it wasn’t you? Didn’t you say that I slept like the dead?”

“Maeve. You’ve woken up twice in the last five hours alone. I think I may have caught you on a rut day.”

It was you. I wanted to say.

“It was probably the meds,” I said. “But the points still holds.”

He shook his head before taking his jumper off and settling under the duvet. “Go to sleep.”