Page 101 of Infatuated as They Come
“Is that what you wanted?” I asked, thumb still tracing at her cheek.
She nodded, letting out a giggle. “I’m not scared anymore.”
“Mm, I’m glad.”
She pushed her door open, looking over her shoulder at me. “I love you.”
“I love you too, princess. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight.”
It shouldn’t have hurt as much as it did when she closed the door. It had been a while since I had Holly’s body up against mine as we slept, either her head on my chest or my arms around her. With how busy I had been at the studio, we hadn’t really had the chance to fall asleep together. I missed that. I missed her.
There was nothing left to do but to make my way to my own room, and of course, just as I walked by the top of the stairs, I bumped into Holly’s dad.
“Are you done dropping Holly off?” he asked.
“Yeah.” I nodded. “She’s in her room.”
“I’ll hear you if you get up,” he said, voice stern. “So don’t even think about doing that.”
I held in a laugh. “I won’t.”
“Good.”
“Cool.”
There was an awkward, uncomfortable silence as we both just stood there. I wasn’t sure if I should have just walked away and let him get to bed or if he wanted something, because he wouldn’t stop looking at me with accusation in his eyes.
“Look… I know you still don’t like me,” I finally said. “But I wanted to say thank you for letting me stay here. I know you’d prefer it if I stayed somewhere else…”
“That’s correct.”
My throat cleared. “But… even though you don’t like me—”
“You don’t like me either, so it’s fine.”
“I just wanted to say thanks, okay?” I said bluntly. “Thanks for letting me stay. I appreciate you letting me stay over.”
“Okay.”
“Yeah, this has been a productive conversation,” I said, rubbing at the back of my neck.
“The only reason I’m letting you stay is because of my wife and daughter,” he said. “I’ve never been good at saying no to either of them. If it was up to me, you’d be back at that trailer park where you belong.”
Jaw clenched, I gave him a stiff nod. “Right.”
“I don’t want you here.”
“I can tell.”
“I don’t think you’re good enough for Holly.”
“You’ve said that before.”
“And I’m still waiting for the day where she wakes up and realizes that she can do much, much better than you. I know it’ll happen, and then I won’t have to deal with you being in my house. Don’t you miss your house? Trailer, I mean. Don’t you miss it?”
Deep down, I did. I missed how small it was, because Holly’s house was too big with too many wandering hallways and too many rooms with high, never-ending ceilings. “Yeah, kinda,” I admitted.
