Page 72 of By His Play

My heart lurches.

It wasn’t a dream.

Reaching down, I readjust myself and cringe.

Nope. Not a dream.

“Effie?” I whisper, not knowing what to say.

This isn’t a position I ever thought I’d find myself in.

Letting her hands fall away, she stares up at the ceiling.

“I need to start getting ready,” she says, quiet and hesitant.

“There’s time,” I assure her despite the fact I haven’t looked at a clock. We could be late, for all I know.

“No, there’s not. Everything today needs to be perfect.”

Before I can say anything else, she throws the covers back, jumps from the bed, and races from the room.

Mimicking her previous move, I cover my face with my hands and shout, “Motherfucker.”

With only one bathroom in the house, I have little choice but to wait for her to finish getting ready before I can properly clean up. Not ideal, but it’s sure a great reminder of how our day started.

By the time she emerges, I’ve already had two coffees and there are cinnamon buns in the oven.

We don’t need more. Some from the other day are still in a container, but I needed to do something.

“Buns will be seven minutes,” I tell her when she makes a beeline for the coffee machine without glancing in my direction.

“Effie, please can we?—”

“Don’t, Kieran,” she sighs, tipping her face to the ceiling and closing her eyes. “Can we just forget everything and focus on Grams today?”

“O-of course. That’s what I was going to say,” I lie as I push from the stool and walk closer.

This morning was an accident. A happy one, but an accident all the same.

Hell, maybe both of us were dreaming.

Neither of us meant to do that.

We were just being human—humans who have needs.

Stepping up beside her, I reach out and turn her to face me. Tucking my fingers under her chin, I force her to look up at me.

“Today will always be about Grams,” I promise her, my eyes searching hers to discover how she really feels about what happened.

Thank you, she mouths.

“You look beautiful, by the way,” I tell her, stepping back and holding her arms out. “Good choice.”

I smile as she blushes.

“I mean, it’s not quite the one I chose.”

She rolls her eyes.

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