Page 137 of As They Are
In the end, I headed to the bathroom and covered our check on the way back.
He wasn’t amused.
“Sharing earned you a few points,” he said. “Sneaking off lost them.”
“You’re just mad that I pulled it off.”
“I am. I’ll remember this for next time.”
Would there even be a next time? I had no idea, but I didn’t need to think too hard about it. I was determined to soak up as much as I could about Henry, and this weekend had already been a gold mine.
I riffled through my bag, grabbing at the T-shirt and shorts I’d brought for sleeping in. “Be right back. Gonna change.”
I headed to the bathroom down the hall. My hair was up in a ponytail, and I tugged out the hair tie. As it tumbled down around my shoulders, my reflection stared back at me. I’d worn a flannel and jeans on the way over, but as the heat pressed on, I’d stripped off my outer layer and was now in just a white tank top.
Before I could stop it, my mind wandered. I wondered if the woman—Norah—had dressed up for him. I wondered if he looked at me and thought of her.
Many people looked at me and thought of someone else. It was a curse of mine.
I focused on brushing my teeth. I hated these thoughts. Over the years, I’d gotten good at ignoring them, but ever since Jude had turned me down, they followed me around.
Mom had left wounds. Ones that I wasn’t sure would heal.
Everything reminded me of it these days, and all I wanted to do was be normal.
And now I knew about his ex—the one that he could still have feelings for.
I had a bad habit of comparing myself.
I changed into my pajamas. The large T-shirt had the collar cut out years ago and hung off one shoulder. It had been a work shirt before I made it a nightshirt. The shorts were short, not even coming below the hem of the tee.
When I got back to the room, Henry had changed too and met me at the door. He had on more casual clothes, but they were still far nicer than mine.
“Wren.” His eyes trailed down my body, lingering on my shoulder. “You ... uh.”
“They’re old. Sorry. I don’t do traditional pajamas.” I brushed past him, feeling the way his eyes followed me. But by the time I’d put the clothes for the day in my bag, he had left.
While he was gone, I looked through the blankets. I pulled three and made a tiny makeshift bed on the floor.
Henry was back in mere moments. “You don’t have to do that. We can make the bed work.”
I was smoothing out the area I would lie on while I answered. “Colleen gave us a hundred and one blankets. I’ll be fine down here.”
“There’s barely any room. You have maybe a foot and a half to sleep on.”
I did. This wasnotgoing to be a comfortable night. “I can fit.”
“But your ankle.”
“It’s healed. I’ll be fine.”
He blew out a breath.“Wren.”
“Henry.” I still didn’t turn.
“You’ve been messing with the same part of that blanket this whole time. Something’s wrong.”
He was right, and I should have known he would see it right away.
