Page 38 of Cru's Crush

I stroked her hair like I had when we were waiting for her to be seen in the emergency room. “Why not?”

She shook her head.

I tightened my arms around her. “Just tell me.”

“It was the first time since, you know, that you weren’t with me.”

I leaned back so I could see her face. “I should’ve thought of that.”

“The nightmares…”

“I’ve got you, Daph,” I said, continuing to stroke her hair.

“I’m sorry.”

I shook my head. “You aren’t allowed to say that anymore.”

She half smiled. “No? What about you?”

“Neither of us.”

She took a step back, and I dropped my arms. “I don’t know why it was different last night than it was atthe cottage. I thought you went to sleep at your mum’s, which meant I thought I was alone.”

“You knew I wouldn’t leave you. You sensed I was still there.”

She shrugged. “I guess.”

“So, what do you say we spend some time getting settled in the house?”

“What about pruning?”

“Nothing is ready yet. I checked.”

“I could unpack my clothes.”

I nodded. “Wait here.” I came back a few seconds later with the errant bag.

She peeked inside. “You opened it.”

I held up both my hands after she took the bag. “I confess. I couldn’t resist.”

She tried to hide it, but I saw her smile.

We spentthe rest of the morning and early afternoon reorganizing the kitchen. While we rearranged cupboards, we made a list of things that were missing or that we wanted our own of.

The other thing we decided was who would sleep in which room. It didn’t take long for me to convince herto take the one with the sleeping porch once I reminded her about it.

Daphne wasn’t as animated as she had been, but she also didn’t seem as down as when we were at Seahorse.

“More shopping and a late lunch or maybe an early dinner?” I asked. “We could also cook here.”

Her eyes opened wide. “Oh no.”

“What?”

“I told Roan I’d meet him.”

“We can do our stuff another day,” I offered.