Page 71 of Silver Linings
I hold out the bag with the remaining roll in offering, but he shakes his head. “You have it.”
“Are you sure?” Hoping he doesn’t want it, I lift the roll slowly towards my mouth, praying he won’t change his mind before I can demolish the second serving.
“I like watching you eat.”
A slow smile spreads over my stuffed cheeks. “Pervert.”
Hendrix gives me another one of his free laughs, and I think I’d do whatever, say whatever, to keep hearing the sound. His laugh—the real one—is like the wind whistling through the evergreens, like cerulean waves crashing down onto the shore, like the sun hitting your face after polar night—natural, strong and incandescently beautiful.
“I just mean I like seeing you happy. Those spring rolls were making youveryhappy. You let out this soft sigh after taking the first bite, and it was the cutest fucking thing I’ve ever heard.”
I’m positive my face has gone beet red. “I could use a little happy today,” I admit.
“Tell me about it?”
“I know it’s not a big deal, and worse things could have happened, but the damage is zapping the rest of my savings. I can’t fix the second floor now. I’m feeling a little morose about it.” I shove the last of the spring roll in my mouth.
“It’s okay to be upset,” he says.
Old habits rise, and I feel the need to deflect. “This is helping, though.” I point at the spread of food. “Will you tell me more about your life back in Seattle?”
He looks down at the container of beef and broccoli, and I worry I might’ve taken it a step too far, maybe he’s still feeling too raw after last night’s conversation. “I’ll tell you whatever you want to know.”
“Why did you move back after school? You seem to really like it here.” There’s an ease to the set of his shoulders now that was absent when we first met.
“I made a deal with my dad—” he uses his chopsticks to take a bite of the savory meat— “when I was eighteen and picking a college. I wanted to see what the world had to offer. I wanted to experience somewhere completely different than what I knew. But I was a kid with no way to afford tuition, so we made an agreement. I could go to college in New York, but I had to study business, and I had to move home after graduation so I could be primed to take over the family business.”
“Sounds like that wasn’t what you wanted?” I fish for more information, desperate to know everything about the man who has me so tied up in knots.
“That’s one way of putting it. Dad values control over everything else, so I agreed to his plan just so I could have four years of freedom. The thing is, I liked the work. I liked designing something and bringing it to life with my own two hands. It just wasn’t enough for him. I wanted tocreate, and he wanted me to manage the shop, take over for him. I didn’t want to leave my life here, but I had made a deal and dad had always drilled into me the importance of a man’s word. A few years later, Maddie died, and well, you know the rest.”
“What are your siblings like?”
This brings a soft smile to his face, and I have to hold myself back from lunging forward and tackling him to the floor. Thisbig, brawny man is so soft and gooey inside, and it’s making my pulse accelerate.
“Laurel is a spitfire, always has been. She’s definitely the type to punch you in the face and then read you the riot act as to whyyoudeserved it.”
“A woman after my own heart.”
“Yeah, I figured you’d say that,” he scoffs. “Maddox…” He takes a second to gather himself. “Maddox was the life of the party. There was never a dull moment when he was around. You remind me a lot of him, actually. Just so full of life, so brave.”
Oh. Oh no.
My nose starts to tingle. “Brave?” Surely I didn’t hear him right.
“You don’t think buying up your favorite place in the world and creating a community, not knowing if it would pan out, with no guarantees for success, is brave?”
“I guess when you put it like that…” I try to joke, feeling sheepish and unable to escape his penetrating stare.
“Don’t minimize what you’re doing here, Sunshine. I was there at book club. I see how your friends look at you with awe and admiration. It’s the same way I look at you every day.” He gives me a cocksure smile. “Well, the way I look at you might be a little different than your friends.” And then, he, honest to God, winks at me. Who knew a wink could feel so charged?
The song playing softly over the speakers changes then into something slow and aching, and Hendrix jumps up and extends his hand out to me.
I look up at him in confusion. “What are you doing?”
“Dance with me.”
twenty
