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The two of them watched me leave the room, and I tried to hold my head up high as I walked out.
7
SKYE
When Owen came back into the kitchen with his hands clasped together, I let out an audible gasp.
“You caught it?” I exclaimed.
“Well, what else was I supposed to do?”
“I don’t know. I guess I just thought you’d chase it out or something.”
“I’m going to take it outside, then I’ll be back to help you finish cleaning up.”
“Owen, you really don’t need to do that. You can go to bed. I’m sure you’re exhausted.”
“I don’t mind,” he said with a smile.
Something about Owen made him always seem completely genuine. I truly believed he didn’t mind helping me clean up dinner. I didn’t even want to be doing it, and it was mostly my own family’s mess.
When he came back in, I was standing at the sink scrubbing a pot. I couldn’t stop thinking about that almost kiss. What would have happened if Luke hadn’t come running in? Wait, had Owen even wanted it to be a kiss? Was I being way too forward with him?
I wasn’t even sure where it had come from. I wasn’t the type to kiss a guy I hardly knew, let alone be the one to initiate it. Although, I did know Owen. Sure, it had been a long time since we had talked, but it honestly felt like nothing had changed.
But things had changed. He had been married. He had two kids. His wife died. He wasn’t the same person I once knew. He was stronger. More confident. He was an amazing father from what I had seen, and I probably made him so uncomfortable with my actions.
I turned off the sink and turned around to see him scraping the remains of food off the dinner plates and into the trash. It looked like he was chewing on a roll at the same time. I laughed at the thought of him stealing a half-eaten roll off of someone’s plate.
“Owen,” I said, clearly startling him. “I’m sorry for before.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You know…before Luke came in here.”
“Oh,” he said, suddenly realizing what I was referring to. “You don’t need to apologize.”
“No, I do. It was inappropriate of me and I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable.”
“You didn’t make me uncomfortable.”
“I didn’t?”
He shook his head and looked at me with a stern expression. It was perhaps the first time I had seen him without a smile on his face in the past twenty-four hours. Obviously, he meant business.
“No, you didn’t.”
“Well, that’s good—”
He cut me off before I could say anything else. Not that I had any idea what I was going to say, anyway.
“Skye, can I tell you something?”
I nodded my head. He looked away from me and set down the plate that had been in his hand this entire time. The clock seemed to tick slower than ever before he spoke again.
“No, never mind. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“Owen, come on. It’s me.”
