Page 70 of Here We Go Again

Will he even want to talk to me? We’ve been together all day. What if he just wants to be alone?

I drop my hand and cross the hall to my own room, pacing in front of the bed.

He’ll probably go to the bathroom eventually. If I leave my door open, maybe I’ll see him then? Or I could just text him. But I don’t want to turn this into something if it’s nothing. Or make him talk if he doesn’t feel like talking.

I finally turn and move to my suitcase. I’m definitely overthinking, so I’ll just unpack. Get ready for bed and wait to see if he comes out of his room. If he does, I’ll ask him if he’s okay. If he doesn’t, I’ll text him and ask if he’s okay.

There. I have a plan.

I make quick work of hoisting my suitcase onto the bed and moving everything into the empty dresser drawers. Mia is the kind of traveler who will live out of her luggage for weeks. Once, we picked up a super short six-week contract, and she never unpacked.

I have no idea how she does it. If I’m sleeping somewhere for more than two nights, I take every single thing out of my suitcase. It’s so much better than the clutter that comes from having to dig through it all the time.

Once I’m finished, I pull out my pajamas so I can change for bed.

And that’s when I realize I have a problem. I only brought one thing to sleep in, and it’s Theo’s t-shirt. I wouldn’t have packed it had I known he would be on my vacation, but I literally have nothing else comfortable enough for sleeping.

I reason with myself as I close my door and change. It doesn’t have to matter, really. It’s a comfortable shirt. And what does it matter if Theo knows I sleep in it?

It doesn’t have to mean anything.

It doesn’t mean anything.

Probably.

I open my door and glance across the hall. Theo’s door is still closed, so I grab my toiletry bag and head to the bathroom. “It’s just a t-shirt,” I say to myself as I move down the hall. “It doesn’t even matter that it used to be his.”

“Used to be whose?”

I spin to see Theo standing in his bedroom doorway, hands hooked over the door jamb above his head. He’s in dark gray sweatpants and a blue t-shirt the same color as his eyes, and my throat immediately goes dry. It should be against the rules for him to look so good.

His eyes drop to my shirt, and he grins. “Ah. Used to be mine.” The slightly possessive way he says mine makes my skin prickle with awareness.

“It’s the only thing I packed,” I blurt. “And only because it’s so comfortable. It’s a … fabric thing.”

“Right.” He drops his hands and pads across the hallway in his bare feet, stopping right in front of me. “Makes perfect sense.”

I swallow against the knot in my throat, forcing my eyes to stay on his face. “You shouldn’t eavesdrop,” I say. “It’s rude.”

His lips lift in a tiny half smile. “Maybe you shouldn’t talk to yourself in ancient houses where sound carries.”

We are standing so close. Close enough that we ought to be touching. We could be touching. I would only need to lean forward the slightest bit or shift my hand just so. But neither of us moves. It’s like we’re hovering in this in-between space, waiting, watching, wondering what might happen next.

My eyes snag on the necklace looped around Theo’s neck. It’s the same one I saw when he came to the hospital to see Garrison. A penny, hole-punched and threaded on a bronze chain. I lift my hand and touch it with my pointer finger. “A penny?”

He reaches up and touches it, rubbing the side of it with his thumb. I get the impression he does that a lot. “Yeah, it’s a thing with my brother. He has one too.”

There has to be a story there, but I’m guessing it’s personal because Theo isn’t making any move to explain.

“Are things okay with your brother?” I ask.

His eyebrows lift. “Should they not be?”

“No, I just … after the conversation with your mom…” I shrug. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“Ah.” He lifts a hand and runs it through his hair. “It’s fine. Just family worrying for no reason.”

“I think that’s part of the deal,” I say. “When people love you, they worry whether you want them to or not.”