Page 35 of Wren's Winter

From where I was standing, I could see the sliver of light across the walkway between the two houses, Adrian stepping out onto his front porch. Maizie followed him out, lacing around his feet. He was glaring down at his dog, opened the door wider, and pointed inside. The dog sat on one of his boots, her tongue out.

“Are you with Summer? You know that girl is too wild for my tastes, always has been. I know she was raised with all those big cousins, but she is a bit of a heathen.”

Dodging the question, I pulled the sweater on over the camisole and then lay on the bed, tugging the jeans over my hips as fast as I could. When I hopped up to zip them, I saw Adrian closing the front door, this time, dog-free and stepping down the stairs.

“I’ll call you later. Love you.” I hung up before she could say anything else. I loved my mom, but her idea of what was good for me was as misguided as the years of hair straightening treatments she subjected me to as a child. Before I could tell myself I was jumping the gun, I threw a few overnight things in a small bag. In case things went well, I could grab them later.

Even though he knew the code for the front door, I heard three solid knocks against the wood. I tried to walk down the stairs as fast as I could without sounding like a herd of elephants. I always was heavy-footed.

Opening the door, Adrian stood on the other side. I glanced down at his outfit and let out a small laugh. He was wearing jeans and a light-gray sweater in an almost identical shade to mine.

“We match.” A smile lit up his face.

“We do.” I opened the door further, beckoning him in. “I just need to swipe some mascara on and then we can leave.”

He followed me into the space, his hands wrapped around a black jacket.

Seeing my eyes on it, he held the coat out. “I figured the chance of you bringing a backup jacket was slim, and yours is probably still air-drying, so I grabbed this out of my closet on the way out.”

Taking the coat from him, I stared down at the jacket, fighting the lump forming in my throat at the gesture.

“You don’t like it? It was my Gran’s, and I know the style isn’t very fashionable right now, but I didn’t want you getting cold and thought—”

I cut off his words with a kiss, pouring all my mixed-up emotions into the embrace. The coat was unfashionable, black, and bulky, with a garish orange-and-blue plaid lining. But knowing before he left his house, he thought of me, I hadn’t realized how starved I was for that level of care. When was the last time someone took care of me in this way?

Three days—two and a half days, really. That’s all I have.

Pulling away, I hoped my eyes weren’t shiny with tears. That would be too embarrassing. “It’s wonderful. Thank you.”

Needing some distance before I humiliated myself further, I retreated to the bathroom. My makeup bag out, I dug around for the basics. “Sorry, I don’t have time for more of a full face,” I commented as I applied some cream blush to my cheeks. “My mom called, and I got distracted.”

“Wear makeup, don’t wear makeup. You are beautiful, no matter what.”

Leaning against the doorframe, he took up so much space. Even in the terrible bulb lights of the small bathroom, he was sexy.

Don’t get distracted. Don’t get attached.

I turned back to my reflection, swiping the mascara on.

I saved the red lip for last to match my nails. Adrian seemed to like it when I reapplied at the restaurant earlier. Or I had lipstick on my teeth, and he was too kind to tell me. Either way, he was staring at my mouth a lot.

“Ah,” he murmured, and I glanced over at him.

“What? Do you not like it…”

“The opposite. You are utterly kissable. It’s just that I know I shouldn’t kiss you and mess up that masterpiece.”

I fanned my lips to dry, staring at him. “This is supposed to be smudge-proof when it dries, so maybe we’ll have to test it...”

“Really?”

“Kiss proof, food proof, blow job proof.” Tapping my lips, I check to find no lipstick transfer. I held up my finger to show him.

“Don’t say stuff like that, or I will have to cancel on my friends and take you right here on this bathroom floor.”

Smirking, I pushed past him, shrugging on the oversized winter coat. “Let’s save that for later.”

Dinner was an intimate setting at the local steakhouse. The food was good and the conversation warm. All my concerns about meeting Adrian’s friends melted away mere minutes into the dinner. Tam and Penny were easy to talk to. It was as if I had known them for years. They were careful not to tell stories about the past without explaining the context and asked me millions of questions about myself. With Tam’s job running a local sporting goods store and Penny as the bookkeeper for the business, I felt comfortable telling them about my work in data analysis. They teased Adrian about his excessive polo collection and how much he talked about Maizie.

---