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The warm water did wonders for my tense muscles, but it couldn’t slow my racing brain. All I could think about was the feel of Tristan’s lips on mine, the feel of his body on top of me.
After a few minutes, familiar music carried through the closed bathroom door.
I hurried out, dried, and got dressed, before running and hopping on the bed just in time to catch the start ofWheel of Fortune.
Even though it was me who had run away first, I was sad to see Tristan wasn’t here. He’d cleaned up the mess on the floor and deposited Miso back into her cage, but he’d left. Because I’d rejected him. Again.
I didn’t know where he would go, but I couldn’t leave him out in the night on his own. He had to sleep here. We’d just…we’d figure it out.
I slipped on my shoes and reached for the door.
Tristan stepped inside.
“Oh,” I said. “You’re here.”
“Of course. We can’t missWheel of Fortune, can we?” He offered me a cup. “I grabbed us some tea in the lobby. Do you like tea?”
“Sure, thank you.” I took it and sipped the warm, soothing goodness.
Then I slipped my shoes back off and took a seat on the bed.
Tristan sat at the table.
I wanted to invite him to sit with me, but I didn’t. I couldn’t.
I took a sip of my tea and shot him a glance over the top of my cup. His attention was on the show, and mine should have been, too.
He made a guess and correctly solved the puzzle long before the contestants.
I realized then thatWheel of Fortunenow felt like our thing—mine and his, instead of mine and my dad’s. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.
I had to say something. I needed to tell him that we couldn’t kiss again, I needed to tell him I was broken and could never date again, at least not until I’d figured out how to glue my pieces back together. No words came out of my mouth. I grabbed the basket with my current work in progress—a 1920’s inspired fringe dress. Giving myself something to do with my hands would help, and there was nothing as engaging as hand beading.
The program flipped to a commercial.
“I saw your show today,” Tristan said, turning his attention to me.
“Oh yeah?”
“You deserved that win. Your costume was impeccable, even more so given yourmodel.”
“Polly wasn’t actually as bad as I expected. She didn’t bite me once.”
“But everyone else had traditional pets.”
“They did.”
“Perhaps because the producers thought giving you an extra challenge would help level the playing field.”
I snorted. “More like they wanted to see me throw a fit.”
“Why do you think that?”
“Well, they told me yesterday that I’d been cast as a villain. What better way to show my worst sides than to give me a monster creature to work with?”
“That’s terrible.”
His tone turned icy, his gaze intense. “Is that why they made you say those things about Kevin?”
