Page 65 of As They Are
“Are you ready to talk now?”
She jumped and turned to me. “You’re still here?”
“Anger fades. It’s what remains that you need to talk about.”
Her eyes watered as she tugged off her gloves and set the sledgehammer on the ground. “All of that was for nothing.”
“All of what?”
“Me kissing you. Saying we’re dating. If I don’t forget all of it and pretend to be starry-eyed with Jude, then they’ll sue me.” She put her head in her hands. “Why did I even try to fight back? It never ends well for me.”
“Canthey do that?”
“No idea! But I can’t afford a lawyer at this moment because I just bought the library and used a lot of my money to do it. I’m literally stuck, and it’s all my fault.”
In a second, I was wondering if the STM grant would help. IfIcould help. I was sure there was some way to fight this.
But now tears cascaded out of her eyes, and I knew this wasn’t the time to fix this. She needed someone.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “This is so stupid to cry over.”
“Wren, it’s not.” I stepped close to her.
I put a gentle hand on her arm and tugged her to me, giving her plenty of space to pull away if she wanted to. Instead, she pressed her face into my neck, melting into every inch of me.
She fit so perfectly. Like she was meant to be in my arms.
I shoved the thought out of my head.
Wren needs a friend, Henry. Not a guy with a crush.
I pulled myself back into the present, listening to her soft sniffles. My hands ran up and down her back and the tension slowly melted away.
“It’s okay, buttercup.”
The name slipped out, and I could only hope she hadn’t heard it.
This hug went on for a while—too long for friends. She must have realized it right when I did because she pulled away.
“Thank you,” she said. “Did you call me buttercup?”
“I was hoping you didn’t notice that.”
“It’s a cute name. It’s a shame you can’t use it when you fake date me, though.”
“We’ll fix this.”
“There doesn’t have to be a ‘we,’” she said. “It can be just me now.”
“I’m still helping you with this. We’ll fix it. But I think you need to take a minute and recover.”
“I’m fine. I can destroy things all day.”
I raised an eyebrow and looked at the wall. “You did a lot. You’re sure that you’re not feeling tired after you stopped for a bit?”
Her face fell. “You know too much.”
“Comes with being a doctor,” I replied. “What if you showed me the library? It looks very different with the lights on.”
