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He was a liar.
His dark brows caved as a flare of red tipped his ears. “Uh…no, that’s reserved for Millie and Roger. It’s Davis to everyone else.”
Fuck.
He just said it—threw his name out there like it was nothing. Did he remember me? Did he realize who it was that sat across from him? I stayed quiet, having a difficult time wrapping my brain and heart around the magnitude of what was happening here.
For years I had desperately wanted Davis here, in my house, meeting my parents. But now, I just wanted him out of my sight. I didn’t want to be in the same hemisphere as him, let alone the same room.
“Honey—” My mother cleared her throat, bringing my gaze up to meet hers. “Aren’t you going to introduce yourself?”
What were we, five?
“Raelyn. People call me Rae.”
It was rude, I knew it. They knew it. Davis probably knew it.
My tone explained exactly how I currently felt about introducing myself to him.
Silence expanded in the room, hovering over us like a wet cloud, so I decided to ask the one question that kept popping into my head.
“Why do they call you Thomas if that’s not your name?”
Davis didn’t say anything, and the moment stretched awkwardly until he finally set his fork down and cleared his throat.
“It’s my legal name. Your parents heard about…” He hesitated, staring down at his plate for a second too long for it to be casual. “Uh…my upbringing, and well, it’s a long story, but they decided to call me by that instead of what everyone else called me. They know I go by Davis, but it’s special for them to call me by the name I was given, so they call me Thomas.”
Feeling my face heat from his direct attention, I let my chin fall to my chest.
Why did it seem like hurt laced each word when he talked about his name and his parents? Why did I care?
“Thomas, I finished that book.” My mother took over the conversation, cheerily.
The low chuckle I heard from across the table had my reluctant gaze traveling up. The sound was deep and throaty, like sunshine found in between a sliver of rock, somewhere in the darkest cavern.
But his laughter was nothing compared to the smile that stretched along his face, and the dimple that popped out on the side of his cheek. My stomach flipped, immediately followed by a gripping fear.
Through all the years of tracking him, of following him as often as I could, he had never once smiled. A frown had always tugged along his devastating jaw line, a dark cloud hanging over his head. Happiness wasn’t an emotion he seemed familiar with, and yet, seeing it on him…
It could ruin me.
Again.
“You’re lying.” Davis called my mother out good naturedly, still with that smile intact.
Laughter echoed from both my parents as they all joined in on an inside joke.
“I goaded her into finishing it,” my father added around a bite of his food. “Every night that she would work on a puzzle instead of reading, I’d say something.”
All three of them were laughing now, and I was left feeling like an outsider.
Keeping my eyes on my plate, I felt the murmur of conversation shift and suddenly Davis was clearing his throat.
“So, Rae—you just moved back from New York?”
I lifted my head as my thoughts strangled any response I could deliver. Instead, I just ended up staring.
His face flushed the smallest bit, his mouth working—surely to finish the bite of food—and then his throat cleared.
