Page 62 of The Weight Of It All
She frowned. “Everything okay?”
“Sure.” I shrugged. I found myself staring at Reed, unable to make sense of what I was feeling. I wasn’t supposed to feel like this. I wasn’t supposed to be attracted to him, not to anyone so soon after Graham left me. “Just, you know. Not really.”
Emily shot Reed a look then tidied some papers on the desk that didn’t really need tidying. “I think someone else feels like that too. He’s not himself today.”
I swallowed hard and took a backward step to the doors. “Shit. I should probably go.”
Emily was around the counter in the blink of an eye and had her hand on my arm. “No, don’t leave.” She nodded toward the reception area. “Can we chat?”
“Um…”
I guessed it was a rhetorical question because she led me to the chairs and made me sit down. Apparently we were chatting whether I wanted to or not.
“I want to tell you something about him,” she said quietly. “He’s a real, genuine person, Henry. He sees the good in everyone, like to the point where sometimes he’s a little naïve. I can say that because he’s my best friend, and I adore him. He is literally the nicest person I know. But he has trust issues for reasons that are not my place to say.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Because I see how you are together. I see how you look at him, and more importantly?well, more importantly to me?I see how he looks at you.”
My heart tripped over itself. “What?” I shook my head. That wasn’t true. “He’s like that with everyone.”
“No, he’s not. He’s professional with all the members here, but with you…” She gave me a half smile. “What you see iswhat you get with him, Henry. He can’t lie; he can’t hide his emotions. And he has two types of smiles: one he gives to everyone else and the one he gives to you.”
I tried to make sense of her words. “He just smiled at me all wrong.”
Emily sighed. “I think yesterday confused him. You left and cancelled your dinner date.”
“He called it a non-date.”
“Because he didn’t want to scare you off.”
My gaze shot to hers.
She smiled at that. “He said he mentioned dinner and you panicked, so he called it a non-date instead.”
I was so torn. Her words were perfect, but there was still that dark cloud hanging over me that I just couldn’t shake. “I’m sorry I left yesterday.” I swallowed hard, trying to think of how to phrase this right. “I didn’t want to, but it’s pretty obvious I don’t belong… here or with him.”
Emily recoiled, like I’d just offended her. Who knows, maybe I did. “Why would you say that?”
“Because it’s the truth. He’s perfect and has the whole Thor/Chris Hemsworth thing going on, and I’m the Hulk. Not in temperament of course, and I’ve never been exposed to radioactive material, well, not that I know of. And I’m obviously not green. I just meant I’m huge and not particularly good looking…” I let my words die away when I realised my mouth was in fifth gear and my brain was stuck in neutral.
Emily reached over and put her hand over mine and gave it a squeeze, just as Reed walked his clients to the door. He said goodbye to them, with that professional smile Emily had mentioned, and he balked when he saw us sitting in the corner talking. He seemed frozen, and he was, again, having some eyeball conversation with Emily.
She nodded for him to come over and stood up. She held out her hand to me, which was odd, but I took it anyway.When Reed was close enough, she took his hand and placed mine in his. “You two need to talk. Henry, tell him why you left yesterday. And Reed, you know what you need to tell him.” She walked back to her reception counter. “You’re welcome.”
Reed’s hand was warm and strong, and just the touch of it eased the ache in my chest a little. “Henry,” he whispered.
I looked up at him. God, he took my breath away. “Hey.”
“I didn’t think you’d show.”
“I’m sorry I left yesterday.”
He looked over his shoulder, and Emily was now over by the treadmills with other customers, probably giving us some privacy. Still holding my hand, Reed led me into the office where the scales and charts were. He closed the door behind us and let out a deep breath. He dropped my hand and wiped his nervously on his gym shorts.
“Whydidyou leave yesterday?” he asked.
Okay then, straight to the point. I put my hand to my forehead. “I’m not very good at this.”
