AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Remember how I told you I got lost in the woods?”
“Yeah. You were out there in the dark, and it took hours for Pop to find you. Even the police were looking for you, right?”
“Uh-huh. What I didn’t tell you…what I haven’t been able to tell anyone is I took off on my own. I was running away.”
“What?”
“It’s silly really. Percy and I were arguing, about what I couldn’t tell you now, and Pop took her side. Or at least that’s how I saw things. I was so mad at them, and Mom had died a little over a year before, so I felt like I had no reason to stay. She was gone, and Pop and my sister didn’t want me around.”
“So you took off?”
“Yeah. It was stupid, and when night fell, here I was, barely eight, in the woods alone. I didn’t even have a coat or a flashlight.”
“And you never told Pop?”
“Not the real reason I was out there. I didn’t want him to get mad at me. I was to blame for the chief, deputy, several police officers, and volunteers being out there looking for me. Pop was just so happy to have found me. Percy too. I couldn’t tell them. And now…” She shrugs. “It no longer matters. It’s been so long.”
“I think you could tell him, and he’d understand. You were just a kid.”
She shakes her head into my neck as if she doesn’t want to hear any reason.
I brush back her hair. “It’s okay. I promise, I won’t tell anyone.”
Her chin rests on my chest. “Your secret was better.”
“I wouldn’t say that. Maybe more fun, but thank you for telling me yours.”
I gently kiss her and we lie down on the sofa, Wren more on top of me than beside me. My body’s tired, wrung out and sated, yet I don’t want to sleep. I should let her sleep—she must be tired—but I want to spend every minute with her awake, catching up, being with her.
“How’s work?” The question sounds exactly like what it is—chitchat, filler.
“Good. I’m running things now at the library. Mrs. Thatcher retired.”
“I heard. Is it everything you hoped it would be?”
“Yes. It’s more than a place with books, you know. I’ve introduced game nights, Sally holds yoga classes three times a week in the rec room, and I’ve rolled out several book clubs for different genres and ages from kids to adults.”
She yawns and I squeeze her tight. “Sounds like the library’s the place to be.” She growls and I chuckle. “We should get some sleep.”
“Okay.” Her lips press to mine then she lays her head on my chest. “Night, Oliver.”
“Night, Wren.”
Sleep doesn’t take too long, but sometime during the early hours of the morning, the power comes back on, and the glaring white light pricks at my closed eyelids.
Wren’s still asleep, face hidden in the crook of my neck, and my arm, the one she’s sleeping on, tingles with my slight movement. Numb.
I could get up and turn off the office light, but I don’t want to move. Not only because I don’t want to risk waking Wren, but more because I’m a greedy son of a bitch, and finally, I can get my fill of her.
For all those hours in the dark, it was torture to not be able to capture the subtle shifts when she reacted to something I said, when she was turned on, when she came, when she uttered my name.
In some ways, the lack of sight heightened my senses and made her every noise and every twitch more intense, more compelling, but I also craved her every expression. I didn’t want to miss any bit of herself she had to give.
While she sleeps, I shift to get a more unobstructed view of her face and wish I could have this all the time, without any concern for how Dot or her family might retaliate.
At some point, I must fall asleep, only to be awakened by a banging on the gym doors.
This is followed by a faint call from the other side of the door. “Hey, anyone in there?” Another close-fisted bang. “Hello?”
