Page 53 of The Runaway and the Rugged
EMELIA
Walking into the cabin with a plate of breakfast and my heart racing a million beats per second, I found Clarke sitting up in the bed with tired eyes. Makeup smudged and her multicolored hair hanging chaotically down her shoulders, her stare connected with mine, then dropped to the plate in my hand.
Her sapphire eyes immediately sprung to life.
“Oh, thank God, I thought I was going to starve to death in here,” she groaned before popping onto her feet and racing over toward me.
“I grabbed a little bit of everything,” I chuckled as she snatched three strips of bacon and a plain biscuit off the plate and shoved them into her mouth.
She moaned.
“This might be the best bacon I’ve ever had,” she muttered contentedly between bites.
As she fell into a chair that was tucked in beside a small dinette table, I hesitantly took the spot beside her. I realized I wasn’t hungry anymore, not when I was moments away from revealing my biggest twist yet to her, and already I was bracing for arguments against it.
“Courtesy of Mother Calhoun.”
Her gaze pinned me down.
“Wow, you met the whole family this morning, huh?” she asked with a giggle, insinuating much more than was needed.
“Just their mom and Garth’s daughter, Grace.”
“He has a daughter?” Her dark brow lifted.
“Yeah, she came by earlier this morning wanting to see if I was real.” I laughed, capturing Clarke’s confused glance. “Turns out, someone told her I was staying in the cabin and she wanted to see if they were telling the truth about a ‘bride’ staying here.”
“And what’s she like?”
“Twelve going on eighteen, but she seems like a sweet kid. Reminds me a little of you.”
She nodded with an impish smile.
“Ah, so he has his hands full. And the other Calhoun sibling? Did he make an appearance?”
“No, I don’t think he’s much of a people person.” I watched as she devoured the biscuit, dipping pieces into the gravy before taking bites.
“Hmm,” she mumbled beneath her breath before settling back into the chair and lifting a foot onto the seat cushion. “Well, once I’m finished eating we can get out of here—try to get a cab or have someone drive us to the airport.”
My heart catapulted in my chest.
“Uh, well, about that.” I chuckled anxiously while tucking my hair back behind my ear. “I actually don’t need to find a way… well, back. I’ve… I’ve decided I’m going to stay here.”
Instinctively, I winced, preparing for the worst. Even my eyes squinted in anticipation as if too nervous to fully face her reaction.
“Stay here? What do you mean stay here? Like, as in, stay another night here?” She hadn’t stopped eating, but it wasevident in her tone that she wasn’t quite grasping what I had said.
Wonderful.
“No…” I drew out the word nervously. “Not just tonight. I mean until further notice.”
Her chewing immediately halted and like a pin had just dropped, a heavy silence had fallen over us until the only thing I heard was the erratic thumping of my heart.
I could barely sustain eye contact without a wave of remorse hitting me, and when I did finally catch her gaze, she looked at me like I had completely lost my mind.
“Clarke…”
Before I could finish, she dropped her foot onto the ground and leaned in close to lay the back of her palm onto my forehead.
