Page 58 of The Backtrack
They weren’t in high school, but this situation sure made Sam feel like she was. Was this how Alt-Sam and Damon felt when they’d been sneaking around in her room?
“Oh, okay,” Damon said. He gave Pearl a forced smile, then seemed to think better of it and awkwardly cleared his throat.
“Grandma,” Sam said. “We’ll be right out.”
“You two woke me up from my nap. Just saying.” Then she closed the door.
Sam grabbed a pillow and buried her face in it as Damon chuckled. Which then made Sam hit him with the pillow.
He gave her a soft smile, and despite her embarrassment, she smiled back, too. Damon raked a hand through his hair as he pulled his pants back on. “You pulled my shirt off outside, which means Hurricane Courtney owns it now, along with my leather jacket. Can I borrow something to wear?”
Sam pulled the top sheet around her chest and dragged it along to the closet. She pulled the lightbulb cord, fingered her way through the hangers and stopped on an old concert T-shirt they’d picked up at a Good Charlotte show. She held the shirt out to him.
He grabbed it and eyed the tag, then tried, and nearly failed, to pull the slim shirt on. It clung to his skin just as tightly as the rain had, and landed an inch above his belly button.
“Crop tops are in right now.” Sam pulled on a new pair of underwear, shorts and a Tybee High marching band sweatshirt.
“Should we talk about...” he started to say. “I mean, was that okay?”
Sam snorted. What they’d done had been more than okay. Life shattering. If this was what Alt-Sam had felt with Damon all along, she now understood why her alternate self hadn’t given him up. Sam walked to Damon and stroked her thumb across the line of his chin. “That waseverything.”
Relief crossed Damon’s face as he pulled her in tight and wrapped his big arms around her. He breathed in the scent of her, then said, “For me, too.”
He held her there. Her body turned the kind of warm and gooey that made her want to slide under the covers and cuddle. If she were in Paris, she’d go get them lattes and croissants and they’d spend the rest of the day in bed. She was about to tell him as much, but his expression was shadowed.
“You okay?” she asked.
He couldn’t hide the crease between his eyes. He took a step back from her, and the space he’d left grew cold. Sam crossed her arms to keep warm. This was why she never got into relationships—she didn’t speak the language. She had no idea what was going through his head, but she’d clearly done something wrong.
“Silence is always a good sign,” she said, her voice anxiously kicking up.
Damon cracked his neck, then his knuckles, and finally said, “My mind is all over the place right now. Just thinking about where we go from here.”
Sam’s face burned, because she didn’t know the answer. They weren’t dating, but they’d slept together. They were a couple in an alternate life, so maybe they could be in this one, too. Wasn’t that what she wanted? Weren’t these visions telling her sheshouldwant that?
But then, would she still be able to fly all over the world if she had someone waiting at home? Would Damon resent her being gone so much? This wasn’t a straightforward situation, and she didn’t want to promise him forever if she couldn’t stick the landing.
Another gentle knock at her door interrupted them. “Damon, your mom says it’s urgent.” Pearl came back into the room. She held her cell out, where there was a text chain with Cathy. “She’s texting weird emojis. Is that an evil eye? Or just a very big eye?”
Damon took the phone and exhaled sharply.
While he frowned, Grandma Pearl smirked. “Cute crop top. Those are in now.”
He bit his lower lip as he looked at Sam. “We’ll talk soon.”
He handed the phone back to Pearl, then made for the door, and Sam followed him out.
“Is it safe to ride in the storm?” she asked. Though she knew she wouldn’t be able to convince him to stay.
He scratched a spot on his forehead. “I have to go.”
He kissed her briefly. And while Sam knew he had to leave—he had his family to help—she also wondered if maybe he was giving her a taste of her own medicine. Fleeing abruptly. The emotions were so raw and real that even she was a little scared. But she wasn’t sure how much of that she could show if she wanted to prove that she trusted Damon.
He gripped her fingertips and looked like he wanted to say something. Eventually, he did. “Bye, Sam-Sam.” Then he headed for the door, and she held on until the tips of their fingers broke apart.
As she watched him leave, the comfort of him did, too. And in his absence, a little knot formed in her stomach. She wanted to figure this out with Damon. She did. But also, what if they couldn’t? What if they’d had their chance once upon a time, but now their lives were far too different and complicated to find a way back?
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