Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 60931 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 305(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60931 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 305(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
I bite my lips together. “That sounded a little too …”
“Welcoming? Suggestive? Sexual? Tempting?”
“Stop.” I laugh. “You and your one-word replies are too much.”
“Do you need help getting to sleep?”
“Help?”
He scoots to the sofa's edge and rests his elbows on his knees. “Help to get up the stairs? Help to get into your pajamas? Help going to sleep?”
Standing, I rest my weight on my crutches. “I’m good. You can sleep in the bedroom across from mine. Pinstriped comforter. I can shut off the lights from my phone.”
He eyes me as if I might have a different answer.
“Night, Eric.”
“Night, Anna.”
I hobble up several stairs and glance over my shoulder as he retrieves his bag by the front door. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For being here. For saying everything you said. And for listening.” I sigh. “Seriously, for listening. You have no idea how much I needed to apologize … to explain my actions. A weight lifted. I didn’t realize how heavy that weight of guilt was until today. I never thought I’d see you again, so I shoved everything to the back of my mind like one does when they lose someone before saying everything they wanted to say.”
With a concentrated expression, he nods several times.
“Well, that’s all,” I murmur.
When I emerge from the bathroom, Eric’s in the guest room with the door shut. I close my door and climb into bed, turning on the TV to distract my runaway thoughts until I fall asleep.
Several hours later, I shoot to sitting, choking on a gasp. I hate this anxiety. It’s more debilitating than my injury. If it’s not the need to move my ankle, it’s the feeling of my lungs burning with the need to breathe when I was trapped under the water. Sweat trickles down my back and between my breasts. I tear off my shirt.
“Anna?”
I startle, hearing Eric’s voice.
“Wh-what are you doing?” I pull my sheet over my naked chest.
He’s on the floor with a pillow, blanket, jogging shorts, and no shirt.
“When did you come in here?”
“When I thought you were asleep.” He sits on the edge of the bed, brushing my hair away from my face. “I wanted to be here if you woke up.”
I glance at the T-shirt I discarded to the floor. “Why are you being so nice to me?” I whisper while tears burn my eyes. This isn’t how I wanted him to see me.
“Anna?” He cups my cheek with his hand.
I shift my gaze from the T-shirt to him.
“All I’ve ever wanted is to be nice to you.”
I blink, letting the emotions spill over my cheeks. “I’m s-still so a-ashamed for how I t-treated you.”
“No,” he whispers, keeping his hand pressed to my cheek while his lips press to my other cheek.
I freeze, and so does he.
My breaths leap over each other until I reach a solid pant.
Something’s buzzing, a vibrating sound. Eric deflates a fraction, bowing his head. The vibrating noise continues. With a sigh, he squats by my bed and retrieves his phone.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” he says, holding his phone to his ear. After a few seconds, he rubs his temple. “It’s the middle of the night. Why aren’t you asleep?”
Another long pause.
“You’ll just have to make it work. What do you expect me to do at this hour?” Eric scratches the back of his head, then claws at his hair and grumbles. “Stick a pillow between your legs.”
I hear a voice on the other end, but I can’t make out what’s being said.
“There’s probably a complementary bottle you can use. Check the bathroom. Good night.” Eric tosses his phone on the blanket by his pillow. He takes a few long breaths before sitting on the edge of my bed again.
“Everything okay?” I ask.
“My dad doesn’t have his pajamas.”
“Where are they?”
Eric pinches the bridge of his nose. “At home.”
“Isn’t he at home?”
“He’s at a hotel.”
“Why is he at a hotel?”
“Because I thought he needed to get out of the house.”
“You kicked your dad out and sent him to a hotel?”
He laces his fingers behind his neck. “He’s at a hotel here in Nashville.”
My face scrunches. “Your dad’s here? In Nashville? And you’re … with me?”
“Correct.”
“Eric, that’s …”
“It’s fine.”
“It’s not fine. He’s calling you in the middle of the night; clearly, it’s not fine.”
“I forgot to pack his pajamas. He’s a guy. He can sleep in his boxer shorts.”
“Doesn’t seem like he can.”
Eric chuckles. “He likes to sleep in long pants because it prevents chafing on his inner thighs. Apparently, he moves around a lot in his sleep. Now he’s worried his legs will be chafed in the morning, and I didn’t pack lotion for him.”
“Eric.” I cover my mouth to muffle my laughter while my other hand keeps the sheet to my chest. “You need to go be with your dad. You don’t have to stay with me. Really.”