Page 23 of Come in with the Rain
“I’m doing great. Thank you.”
“Does that happen a lot?”
I cut into the eggs she made me and put some in my mouth before I nod. I’m not going to tell her that it’s almost every night, that when I’m not having night terrors, I’m having dreams about doing unspeakable things to her. There doesn’t seem to be any in-between these days.
She nods back but doesn’t comment. She’s leaving me room if I want it, but I don’t. After a beat of silence, she says, “So, what’s the plan for my toilet?”
I blink over at her. “What?”
“My toilet? You know, that giant porcelain thing that gets its own room in my home?”
I sigh out a laugh. “Right. Hardware store should be open by now, so I’ll run by, get a new overflow tube, and have it fixed in no time.”
“Thank you.”
It seems ridiculous after everything she’s done for me that she would thank me for fixing something I broke with my own two hands. She tilts her fork to cut her eggs, and I reach out to still her hand.
Her gaze meets mine, and I make sure not to look away as I say, “Thankyou, Stella.”
I don’t miss the way her eyes drop down to my mouth, the way her hand flinches under mine, and I take my hand away quick before I give myself permission to do something I can’t take back.
CHAPTER24
ADAM
Iwatch Stella through the open door of the bathroom. She’s putting on her shoes in the living room, getting ready to go to her interview, her back to me. I’m taking apart her sink, but I can’t stop looking at her. The back of her neck is flushed pink, and I wish I could see straight into her brain.
She lets out a little sigh, and it does something to my chest. I focus back on my work, force myself not to look up at her again, but I still listen to the drag of her breath in the silent condo, the sweep of her hair as she combs her fingers through it, the tap of her shoes as she goes into the kitchen.
And then the lights go out.
The bathroom plunges into darkness, the only light filtering in from the open windows in the living room. Outside the bathroom door, the condo has taken on a grey quality, and Stella is hovering between the kitchen and the living room, a bottle of water in her hand and a quietly stoic expression on her face.
I straighten, leaving the sink in pieces, and watch as she takes a deep breath, and then her face crumples. I push the bathroom door open all the way as Stella throws her bottle of water across the room, where it slams into the wall with apop. When it hits the ground, water gurgles out onto the floor. She falls onto one of her bar stools and drops her face into her hands.
“Hey,” I say, rushing over and crouching down in front of her. “Hey, Stella.” She doesn’t look up at me, just keeps her head bowed, and even though I know better, even though I’ve drawn lines for myself, lines that I keep crossing, I reach for her face.
The heat of her skin meets mine, wet with tears, and I tilt her face up until I can see her eyes. They’re blurry and unfocused. “Everything’s going to be okay,” I tell her. And I don’t even know if that’s true. Her power probably just got turned off, she seems to be struggling to find a well-paying job, and she just ended a relationship that lasted years. How can I tell her that everything is going to be okay?
Because I’ll make sure of it. If I have to move her into my damn house, I will.
“I should be able to do this,” she says in a watery voice. I’m still holding her face, pushing away her warm tears with my clumsy thumbs. “I’m an adult. I should be able to pay my electricity bill. Other people pay their electricity bills.”
“I’ll help. I can loan you the money.”
She groans and pushes my hands away, but not like she minded me touching her, just like she’s frustrated by my suggestion. “I’m not going to take your money. You’re already doing far too much, and I don’t need your charity.”
There’s no real heat in her voice, but I know she means it. “Stella, people need help sometimes. It doesn’t make you weak or incapable. You’re getting your feet back under you.”
She’s quiet for a second, just sniffles. “Look at you. You’re starting your own company. I mean, you were working on Mickey’s place. That’s a huge job. You have direction and your own house, with electricity and everything.”
I put up a hand to stop her. “My parents left me that house. They also left me enough money to get all the permits for my company. And I don’t know if you remember, but I got fired from my last job.”
She shakes her head. “No. No, Adam. You’re doing great.”
“So are you,” I say, stepping on the end of her sentence.
Her eyelashes are still wet, her cheeks still flushed, and I’m pretty sure she’s the most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen in my life. Her eyes roam my face, almost like she’s seeing me for the first time, like she’s woken from a dream to find my face. Her gaze dips to my lips, and I stop breathing, heat blooming low in my stomach. I know I’ve crossed the line, am currently on the other side of it right now, but if she kisses me, if she even makes it clear that she wantsmeto kissher, that line is going to go up in smoke. I’m done trying to fight it. My self-control is all used up from keeping myself at a distance this long.
