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‘Pretty corny, eh?’ She’d looked up at me, her head resting on my shoulder as she’d given the smallest of shrugs. ‘But I thought it would make you happy.’
Kiss her. Kiss her now. Tell her how you feel.
And cross a line? Take advantage? She’s barely eighteen and more vulnerable than she’ll ever admit.
I’d tugged my gaze from her appeal, looked to the fire.
‘Yeah, you’re right.’ I’d forced a laugh as I’d pulled her in close. ‘Pretty corny...but it makes me happy all the same.’
I drag my mind back to the present, to her expectant face dancing in the flames. To the lines around her eyes and her mouth that hadn’t existed before. They give her a maturity that lacks the vulnerability of old. Is that why I want her more than ever?
‘I don’t need a front, Summer. I haven’t for a long time.’
‘Your parents finally take notice of you?’
The wry smile returns. ‘I stopped needing them too.’
She searches my gaze. ‘Did you decide their love wasn’t worth the effort?’
Is she thinking about her own love too? Now that she knows I tarred her with the same brush?
‘No love is,’ I say simply. ‘Save for Gran’s and she’s now gone.’
She falls silent. One beat. Two. So many questions race behind her eyes and then, ‘You never needed a front for Gran...or me.’
My throat threatens to close over. No, what we shared was effortless. But at least my parents stuck around. Their love may be superficial at best, cruel at worst, but they didn’t disappear into the night, never to return...until now.
And she’s only here now because of Gran.
I need to remember that.
I need to cling to it.
‘So...’ I sip my wine, use it to ease the discomfort in my chest.
‘So?’
Her brows nudge skyward, and there’s an edginess to her gaze now as she waits for me to finish what I started.
‘You must meet a lot of people on your travels.’
‘I do.’
‘You must make a lot of friends.’
She tilts her head. ‘Some, but I prefer to travel alone.’
I nod, ignoring the way her confirmation reassures me. ‘Doesn’t it get lonely—no permanent base, no travel buddies?’
She laughs now. ‘I’m a grown woman, Edward, I don’t need travel buddies.’
No, she’s never needed anyone, she told you that over and over.
‘And besides, I have plenty of social interaction. There are the people I meet on my travels—people interested in the culture, the food, the excitement of a new country...’
‘Of course.’ Though I don’t believe for a second that those people can be considered a healthy substitution for real friends.
‘And I have followers too—people who are interested in my journey and vice versa.’
