Page 54 of Bookworm
On the counter beside us, I saw two small piles of scallions and sesame seeds. “Guess you were feeling fancy, huh?”
“For you?” he teased, poking my nose with the tip of his finger. “Nothing but the best.” He pointed to another pot on the back burner. “I’m even adding a couple soft boiled eggs, too.”
“And I had all these ingredients lying around?”
Adam snorted, releasing me with a quick kiss to my cheek. “Hardly. Verne and I brought most of it over.”
Even in the face of him being so sweet, I couldn't get the image of Jasmine and Mr. Stone out of my mind.
What were they doing together? Did Adam know? Had he been having coffee with them moments before I got there?
My thoughts were interrupted by Adam's hands gently pressing on to my shoulders. I looked up into his eyes, eyes that I used to know so well, and yet now he was a stranger. A familiar stranger, yes but a stranger nonetheless.
“What's going on in that mind of yours?” he asked.
I gave a responding nervous chuckle. There were a million things I could say in response to that. A million vulnerable confessions that I could unleash, starting with: choose me.
“I’m sorry about what I said this morning,” I blurted out quickly.
He didn’t react. Didn’t even blink.
“Adam? Did you hear me?”
A single nod. “Yeah.”
“I’m sorry you heard that.”
“Sorry I heard it? Or sorry you said it?”
Shit. I swallowed and took a moment to collect my thoughts. This was what adults did. They talked through their feelings. They didn’t just run away and move to another country.
“I’m sorry you heard it,” I clarified. Those words were possibly some of the hardest and most honest I’d ever said.
He pressed his lips together and nodded. “I see.”
“We’ve only been back together dating, orwhatever this is, for a week. I’m not saying I won’t stay here to be with you. I’m not saying that you won’t be enough for me to uproot my life. I’m only saying that right now, right this second, it feels really early to make that big of a life altering decision. But we’ve got several more weeks together. And I’d like to play it by ear.”
“I can understand that,” he said quietly.
“You can?”
“Yeah. But promise me you won’t just leave again. If you’re going back to London, at least give me the goodbye that we both deserve.”
“That sounds like a deal. But I don’t want to think of goodbye right now.”
“No?” Adam stepped into me, lowering his mouth to my neck and sweeping his tongue along my collarbone. “What do you want to think of?”
“Maple Grove,” I murmured.
His lips froze at my shoulder. Then slowly, he pulled back and leveled me with a quizzical look. “What?”
“I owe my family a visit. But I don’t want to lose any time with you. Will you come home with me?”
“Can Verne and I crash in the basement guest room?”
The question took me back for a moment. “You don’t want to see your parents?—”
“My mom is traveling with my stepdad.” He shrugged, but didn’t offer anything more about his dad.
