Page 92 of In Somnis

Still wearing it.

“I guess I should’ve asked that yesterday.” She smiles at him.

Yep, hate yesterday.

“I’m hoping there’ll be plenty more opportunities to get to know each other,” Paul adds.

I focus on a spot on the wall behind them. Very interesting wall. Great brickwork.

“I’m sorry,” he continues, shifting the tumbler in his hand before holding it out to her. “I know I said I’d bring the rest of your things to your place, but I had to do some shopping first and ended up running late. So I figured I’d at least bring you this and apologize.”

“Thank you.” Lennon takes the cup, looking genuinely touched. “That’s nice of you.”

The kitchen feels a little too full all of a sudden.

Or maybe I don’t know where to stand anymore.

“Would it be okay if I stopped by tomorrow afternoon around four to bring the rest?”

Tomorrow.

I do a quick mental check of the reservation system, the dinner bookings, and anything I could pretend needs doing tomorrow at four.

Nothing.

Great.

“Sure,” she says, blushing. “That sounds great.”

I should check the dining room, make sure Sydney has everything she needs. Literally anything else. Instead, I stay exactly where I am and watch Paul reach for Lennon’s hand, turning it palm-up to inspect the abrasion the same way I…

Huh.

He does it better.

Slower and way more careful. He’s so careful with her, but it’s not tentative, it’s… precise?

I don’t know how to feel about that.

I also don’t know how to feel about the fact that she’s blushing the same way she blushed when I called her Lemon ten minutes ago, and hate that the two things are now sitting side by side in my head, being aggressively compared.

“It already looks better,” Paul murmurs with a smile.

“Yeah,” Lennon agrees, smiling back up at him. “I told you, you did good work.”

He cups her cheek, thumb gliding carefully under the scratch on her temple, and her breath catches.

Suddenly, the copper pot rack overhead fascinates me. When did we get that installed? Has it always been there?

“This looks better too. I’m glad,” Paul murmurs before stepping away. “Okay, I’ll let you work your magic, but I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”

“Same.” Lennon hugs the tumbler as if it’s precious.

He presses a kiss to her cheek because, of course, he does, then straightens and turns to me. “See you around, Nevan.”

“Yeah. See you.” I manage a polite nod and something that probably resembles a smile.

I don’t know why any of this is bothering me.