Page 25 of As They Are
My hands wrapped around her waist before she could fall, and I pulled her flush to my front.
“Careful,” I said in a low voice.
“Jesus. It’s been a long time since that’s happened to me. I’m off today. Thanks for catching me.”
Her body was warm against mine, and it took me a second longer than it should have to let her go.
Something pressed into the back of my mind. It had been bothering me since I grabbed her upstairs. A detail from today that I needed to remember.
Wren wasn’t single.
Horror climbed onto my cheeks, shame making them hot.
Wren didn’t seem to take note of it. She continued her trek downstairs, stepping far more carefully this time.
“Are you still coming? Or do you sense more danger?”
I blinked out of my thoughts. Wren had gotten to the bottom of the steps and had turned to look at me with a raised eyebrow.
“I’m still following.” I caught up with her. “But about the stair ...”
She’d opened the door at the bottom, eyes going wide. “Hold that thought.”
She waved me forward, and suddenly, I was too busy marveling over the first floor to finish my thought. It was much more open, with meeting spaces and a colorful kids’ section. The tiles were faded, but we could tell they matched all the colors of the paint on the buildings in the square.
“Holy shit,” Wren whispered. Her eyes were on the wall behind us.
I turned and saw the remnants of a mural of the entire town. Bennie Grove Farm was on it, as well as every single building in the square. Things had changed over the years, like store names, but this was a snapshot of the town from years ago.
“All of this,” she said as she walked up to it, “it’s just standing hereempty.”
“Like an eyesore,” I added.
“God, I bet the people here miss it.”
“Imiss it and I wasn’t even here for it. I’ve heard it was more than a library. The town hall was connected to the back. People had parties. The government offices were here, but it all closed when the library did. I wish there was something to be done, but even if we had the funding, a project like this would be massive.”
“Way bigger than a mansion,” she muttered.
I would have let her stay as long as she wanted, but my lungs were already burning from the musty air, and I knew hers had to be too.
“We should go,” I said. “It can’t be good for us to stay in here too long.”
“You’re right. I have a few calls to make anyway.”
We made it back up the stairs, but my thoughts were no longer with the library. They were on Wren. If she was going to be calling people, I wondered if her costar boyfriend was one of them.
After we were in fresh air and on solid ground, I knew I couldn’t leave it.
“Hey, about what happened in there ... I’m sorry.”
She turned. “What are you talking about?”
“The stair breaking. Me grabbing you.Twice.After what Kerry said, about you and ... Jude, was it? I didn’t mean anything by that. I don’t make moves on women in relationships.”
Wren raised an eyebrow. “But you just saved me from falling.”
“Still,” I said. “It matters to me.”
