AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You told me you didn’t want to talk about Chris and Amie,” I said gently.
His jaw clenched, his eyes searing into mine. “I didn’t when you first brought them up.”
“And that’s changed?”
Burke rolled his neck, and the struggle of how to answer was stamped all over that handsome face of his. I’d asked the question kindly because if I felt their loss without really knowing them, I could only imagine how he felt.
“You’ve looked a lot of different ways since I’ve met you. Sad isn’t one of them.” He clasped his hands together on the table, his full attention unwavering on what I was about to say. “Tell me.”
“Such manners.”
Burke’s eyebrow arched slowly.
I stood from the table and went to my bedroom, where I picked up the book of wallpaper that I hadn’t quite been able to open since I’d gotten the call about the car accident.
When I took my seat again, he was eyeing the book with guarded curiosity.
The binding creaked when I opened it to the first marked page, and on the bright pink Post-it note was Amie’s swoopy cursive handwriting.
Chris hates this one the most. Keep it as a top choice for the primary bedroom.
My eyes watered before I turned the book in his direction. It took a second for the meaning to register, and once it did, his jaw clenched so tightly that I was shocked I didn’t hear the crack of his teeth. His eyes went a little red, his blinking rapid and obvious. Then he huffed out a low laugh.
“I can hear her saying something like that,” he said. His voice was rough and quiet. “You should’ve seen them when they started dating. They gave each other so much shit.”
I swallowed down my own tears, not because I didn’t have a history with his friends but because neither of us was ready for this to turn into a giant sob fest.
“She didn’t mean it,” I told him. “But she had all these plans to buy a roll of it, just to mess with him when it came time to put it up.”
Burke’s big hand traced the page in front of him—a repeating pattern of a scene with a bird on a tree branch next to a butterfly. The trees and background were a muted tan and brown, but the bird and butterfly were vibrant in varying shades of blue and green and teal. Itwas bold. Not something either of us would’ve picked for the house, but in the right space, I could imagine it working.
“It’s really, really ugly,” he said.
I laughed. Loudly.
Burke’s lips curved into a small smile, but he looked away so that I didn’t see it.
“It’s not that bad.” I turned the page. “But it does come in different colors if you want something with pinks and oranges instead.”
“I can guarantee you that I don’t.”
To my surprise, he started flipping pages. Sometimes he slowed on one and asked me about it.
“That’s called a toile,” I said. “It was a really commonly used design at the turn of the century—a repeating country scene like that. Sometimes you’ll see hunting dogs and horses, sometimes it would be birds and trees.” I paused to gauge the expression on his face, but he seemed genuinely interested. “All the designs were pretty formal back then. Maybe the family bedrooms would have had a smaller, simpler design. But anyplace where they’d entertain guests, you’d see these larger patterns, bolder colors.”
“Chris would’ve hated all of this,” he murmured. “Would’ve wanted to paint the whole house white, I bet.”
My voice came out in a whisper. “That’s what Amie said too.”
He blinked hard but didn’t respond.
I set my chin in my hands, studying his facial expressions as he slowly looked through the designs. It was indulgent to note the tiny lines next to his eyes, the brackets around his mouth that were deep when he smiled—on those rare, rare occasions.
Of course I’d find the most complicated, taciturn man and develop big, scary, roller-coastery feelings for him.
Maybe I just need to get laid,I thought desperately. Maybe it was just years of pent-up sexual frustration, and he was the first available target.
Like in those horror movies where a demon jumps into the nearest dead body.
