Page 108 of Love Arranged
Her hands, which were lying flat against her lap, curl into tight fists. “You’re not letting this go, are you?”
“Do people typically give up by now?”
Her silence is confirmation enough. I tell myself not to push, to let it go and move on to another topic, but maybe that’s Lily’s issue. Maybe everyone is willing to give up at the first sign of upsetting her, and while that has its place, it shouldn’t come at the price of her safety.
So you’re her protector now?
My own hands tighten around the steering wheel. “What if there was another way to hold on to his memory without anchoring yourself to a two-ton relic?”
She glances over at me from the corner of her eye, likely assessing my angle. “I don’t know.”
I pull the dice from my pocket and hold them out for her to grab. Her fingers brush against the soft flesh of my palm, sending a few sparks scattering across my skin as she takes the dice.
“There are other ways to honor someone that don’t compromise your own needs. With the Moirai, I was stubborn. I didn’t want to accept that it wasn’t the same buzzing casino my father built and managed, so I held on.”
She rolls the dice between her fingers, back and forth like I do, clearly lost in thought. I don’t want to interrupt whatever silent conversation she has going on inside her head, so I focus on the road until she is ready to talk.
“Letting go was hard, but I found a way to always keep a piece of it with me.”
She is silent for a while after that, and I give her time to process what I said.
She turns in her seat to face me. “Let’s say—hypothetically speaking, of course—I was ready to get a new car… Would you mind going with me to the dealerships?”
My breathing stutters because that was not what I was expecting her to ask.
“Sure,” I say, knowing this is only the start of blurred boundaries and broken rules.
They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions, and me offering to help Lily find a car is the first step down a dark, obsessive path.
I can’t say I’m sorry about it though.
At least notyet.
A few hours later, we finally make it to the hotel. Dahlia and Julian are already waiting in the lobby with our room keys, so we head to our rooms to drop off our bags, which are located on different floors.
Dahlia mentions our dinner reservation before we part ways, and I spend the time it takes Lily to get ready checking out reviews online. There are a few that make me pause, and my stomach is in knots by the time Lily steps out of the bathroom.
“What’s wrong?” she asks as she brushes a hand down the material of her dress.
“Nothing.” I head to the bathroom so I can wash my hands.
She follows me. “Are you upset about sharing a room?”
Not as much as I should be.“No.”
“Then what’s the matter?”
“I was thinking about dinner tonight.”
Her lips turn downward. “Shit. I forgot.”
I freeze. “About?”
“You don’t like eating at restaurants.”
My shoulders, which were already tense, bunch up. “Contrary to what you think, I’m not completely incapable of?—”
“Whoa. Ineversaid that.”
