Page 37 of The Heiress
Elisha folded her hands in her lap. I leaned myself back in the seat, running my hand through my damp hair.
“Thanks for the hoodie,” Elisha murmured, like she didn’t want Mom to hear.
“You’re welcome,” I said, wiping my wet hand over my wet track pants. Feeling drops on my forehead, I wiped my sleeve across it.
Her smile stirred a fluttering in my stomach, a sensation that an hour ago would have been ludicrous. But something had happened on that walk. How could it be that something so simple as Elisha’s touch, holding my hand, had set something in motion, and with her sitting beside me in the back of Mom’s car, I didn’t have a clue what I should do about it.
Chapter 12
Elisha
Even though Phoenixwanted to unload the hamper from the trunk, Laura sent him straight to the shower, saying he’d catch a chill from his wet clothes. She guided me to the laundry room where she was concerned about my sneakers, now no longer clean and white.
“It’s okay,” I said, shrugging it off.
“But they looked brand new,” she said. “I should have warned you about the trail.”
“Really, it’s okay. You don’t want them to be sparkling white, anyway.”
Laura shook her head in bafflement. “Oh, I can’t understand kids and clothes these days.”
I smiled and put them on the rack to dry, and she ordered me upstairs for a warm shower too. Something Ya-Ya would do. I was sure you couldn’t catch a cold or flu from being in wet clothes, otherwise every time you went swimming you’d be ill. But I didn’t argue.
I rummaged through my suitcase for a change of clothes, taking a long time to choose a pair of skinny white jeans and a dark blue sweatshirt. It wasn’t that I was having a hard time selecting a combo, it was that when I showered I’d have to remove Phoenix’s hoodie.
And, stupid as it seemed, I didn’t want to.
I sat cross-legged on the bed hugging myself, the faint scent of cologne surrounding me. I loved everything about it, and even though I’d intended to somehow help Phoenix on his recovery journey, I hadn’t envisioned my feelings to be like this. I was supposed to dig myself out of my own self-pity, be a Good Samaritan, help someone less fortunate than myself.
I wasn’t supposed to be trembling over a hoodie, sniffing and touching it like a psychopath.
The sound of a voice in the living room sent a flutter of butterflies to swirl in my stomach, an extreme reaction over the thought of seeing Phoenix, but it was Laura speaking on the phone. Not wanting to interrupt, I detoured over to the patio, standing at the closed windows. The rain had stopped for now, but the tennis court was dotted with wet patches. The door to Phoenix’s bedroom was closed. I was tempted to go upstairs and return his hoodie just to see him, but back in my room, I chickened out and instead pulled out my English Lit essay.
There was a tap at the half open door and my heart surged. Laura’s head popped in and though I was pleased to see her, I realized that the hope that it might be Phoenix had me on edge. What had it been—sixty minutes, ninety minutes since I’d last seen him?
“How are you going?” Laura whispered as if someone was sleeping.
