Page 57 of I Knew You
“That was a huge ego boost for me, you know. There’s no way I was getting rid of them,” I teased. I noticed her open laptop and some paragraphs on the screen.
“What’s that?” I asked, pointing to it. She snapped the lid closed quickly.
“Nothing.”
“It didn’t look like nothing. Do you still write? Like you did in high school?”
She bit her lip. She was still flushed, so much so that I could feel the heat radiating from her.
“Yes. Sort of. Sometimes.”
“That’s amazing. You were always so good at it.”
“It…it calms me. Redirects my thoughts when things get overwhelming.”
“Today was overwhelming for you, I’m sure.” I thought about the appointment, the PA. I had missed the chili and the dinner setup. Then she’d found the letters.
I stood. “I’d love to hear about it. Maybe read some to me, someday?”
She flashed a half smile. “No way. It’ll be in a fully published form if you ever see it.”
“Oh, come on. You were going to let me take your virginity, but you won’t let me read your stories?”
She gasped and threw a pillow at my head. I caught it before it hit me.
“Uncalled for!” She was laughing with me, her rich tone echoing off the walls.
“I couldn’t help it,” I chuckled, tossing the pillow back to her.
“I’ll try to find it in me to forgive you.” She clutched the pillow to her chest. Lakey jumped up on the bed. “I’ll keep your dog as repayment.”
“She’s a bed hog anyway, take her. I’m heading out. Can I use this bathroom in the morning to get ready? I’ll keep it proper.”
She tucked the box behind her back.
“Yeah, of course. Just wake me up, and I’ll leave you to it.”
“No, you can sleep. As long as you’re comfortable with me coming in here.”
She smiled sweetly then, her cheeks still bright pink. “Of course, it’s fine,” she said, her grin more playful than before.
“Sleep well, sweets.” I left quickly before I made a move onher that I could not take back. I’d wanted to kiss her all day, and I knew any further reflection on what I had memorized in those pages would be my undoing.
Diverse, innumerable mixed signals bounced in my mind. We had kissed but never spoken of it again. We hadn’t declared feelings of any kind, but we were getting married.
We were a complicated puzzle of contradictions, and I wondered how this could possibly play out without one or both of us getting hurt.
Chapter Twelve
Julianna |October 4, 2024
Ismiled as I set down my phone on Bram’s kitchen table, satisfied. I’d just finished speaking with a small independent publishing company in Charlotte. The job listing for a Social Media Marketer had seemed to appear out of nowhere a couple of days before, and I’d jumped at the chance to apply the second I saw the start date was three months out. The callback came quickly after I turned in my resume. The phone interview went well, and the publisher set up a virtual interview in a week.
Hope was blooming in my chest as a plan came together in my mind. I would fake marry Bram, have this surgery, heal as needed, and let Bram collect his trust fund. Then I would go back to Charlotte, back to Kallie, and our shared acquaintances and haunts. I needed to return to familiarity as soon as possible. Being in Mill Creek was a thing of the past, and it was best left there.
Living with Bram the last few days had been uneventful. We’d had some casual conversation about our lives when our paths crossed, which hadn’t been often. He seemed to stay gone until late at night, and I couldn’t figure out whether or not it was on purpose.
There’d been no more heated moments, not after the night of the journal, and no more attempts to kiss me. Not even a slight brush in passing. There was no talking about Whit or our past. No more talk of the marriage we’d agreed to. We left so much unspoken, and I hated it. The one time I’d tried to mention the marriage, he’d changed the subject.
