Page 240 of Safe With You

By the time we were done eating, the containers were pushed toward the middle of the table and Ellis had somehow migrated from the chair across from me to the one beside me.

I didn’t remember when that happened.

I didn’t mind it either.

His arm rested along the back of my chair.

“What are you and Mila doing Sunday?”

The question left my mouth before I could reconsider it.

Ellis looked at me.

“Sunday?”

“Yeah.”

“Nothing that I know of. Why?”

I ran my thumb along the edge of my napkin.

“My parents do dinner on Sundays.”

“Okay.”

I glanced at him.

“And I was thinking maybe you two could come.”

He didn’t answer immediately, and my stomach tightened.

There it was. That old instinct to fill the silence. Make it easier.

Give him an out before he had the chance to ask for one.

“You don’t have to if⁠—”

“I didn’t say no.”

I stopped.

Ellis shifted in his chair until he was facing me more fully.

“I was thinking.”

“Oh.”

“Am I allowed to do that?”

“Depends.”

“On?”

“How long you take.”

He smiled.

“See, now you’re rushing me.”