Page 2 of Romeo

Fine.

If that was what this was, I could wait.

A sound from the hallway pulled my attention away from the game again sometime later. Fiona stood near the edge of the room, no Josie in sight this time.

“Hi,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

“Hi,” I returned with a smile. “You need something?”

She shook her head and glanced toward the empty cushion beside me.

“I couldn’t sleep.”

“Have a seat.”

I patted the cushion next to me.

Fiona crossed the room slowly and sat, pulling her legs beneath her. The easy smile from earlier was gone. She stared toward the fireplace instead, the flames throwing soft light across a face that looked entirely too sad for someone her age.

“You okay?”

She shrugged and kept her gaze on the fire.

Whatever brought her into this room had nothing to do with insomnia.

I reached for the remote and turned off the television. The sudden silence seemed to make her withdraw even further into herself, so I shifted closer and took her hand.

“Fiona, tell me what’s wrong.”

She inhaled before finally turning toward me. Tears shimmered in those pale eyes, and every instinct I had told me to pull her into my arms and keep her there until whatever had hurt her disappeared.

I stayed where I was.

“We had a school dance tonight.”

The dress made sense now.

“Didn’t go well?”

“I didn’t go. I mean, I went to the high school. But I didn’t go inside.”

She tugged her hand free. I let her, although every part of me disliked the empty space she left behind.

“Why not?”

Another shrug.

I turned toward her and rested my arm along the back of the couch, catching a loose strand of her hair between my fingers.

“Talk to me.”

“I sat in the parking lot watching everyone go in and just decided to skip it.”

Her hands twisted together in her lap.

That wasn’t the whole story.

“What’s his name?”