Page 39 of See You Soon

Cara’s eyes flashed up, and he was shocked by the alarm he saw in them. And how protective it made him feel.

“I didn’t tell you that.”

She was afraid of something. It almost killed him, but Wes took a step backward. Every instinct made him want to wrap his arms around her and tell her that she was safe from whatever it was that scared her.

“You did,” he said slowly. “A couple of weeks ago, when it was so cold. You made fun of me for wearing long johns and earmuffs when I went running. You said, ‘This isn’t cold. You’d never survive a Connecticut winter,’ and I said I survived DC…”

The clouds in her eyes lightened, and her cheeks bloomed red. Cara turned away and fidgeted with the bowl.

“I’m sorry,” she exhaled. “I’ve had a rough day.”

Wes stared at her back, wishing he could think of something clever to say that would make her smile.

He looked skeptically at the mixture in the bowl.

“Uh, what is that? It’s disgusting.”

Cara cleared her throat. “It’s not disgusting. It’s aloe. It’s really good for your skin. It’s good for eczema, burns, irritations, cuts…” She didn’t turn around, but the more she spoke, the more even her voice became.

He wanted to press her on why the phone call had upset her so much. But in the brief time they had lived together, he’d learned the instant he pushed too far she would shut down.

“I get it!” He joked, gratified when the tense lines of her body slowly softened. “You’d think by now I would have learned not to ask.”

“Can you open the freezer for me?”

“I don’t think you have enough room in there.” He watched her dubiously try to fit her concoction into the packed freezer. Wes reached over her shoulder and grabbed the two pints of ice cream from where they blocked the bowl from sliding in.

“Are you planning on eating both of those?” Cara lifted her chin and glanced over her shoulder before he straightened. Her nose brushed his neck and all the blood in Wes’s body went south. His breath caught. He needed to step back, but neither of them moved.

Slowly, Cara faced forward and carefully set the bowl down as if it might explode. Wes stepped away, retrieving two spoons from the drawer, while she arranged the freezer so the door would shut.

“I think we should finish these. You know, so they don’t go to waste.”

“We should have dinner.” She eyed the ice cream.

He could tell she was weakening. “We will. Later.” Wes didn’t wait for her to reply. The skin near her eyes still looked pinched, and her mouth was turned down in the slightest of frowns.

He didn’t like it.

Wes settled on the sofa and wiggled one of the spoons in the air at her.

Cara laughed softly. “You are nuts.”

Wes pulled up the next episode on their Star Trek list, and Cara took her usual spot, tucking her legs under her. He noticed that when she took the ice cream, she was careful not to brush his fingers.

By unspoken agreement, they let the moment between them pass. It was for the best. Besides, something else was bothering her, and he wanted to know what it was.

Wes waited until the episode was over and Cara set her now-empty ice cream tub on the coffee table. She leaned back into the corner of the sofa, looking exhausted.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“Talk about what?”

“Whatever it was about the phone call that upset you so much you inhaled a pint of ice cream.”

“You made me eat it!”

“Did I though?” He smiled to soften his words. “Something must have bothered you enough that you bent your rules. I’ve never seen you eat ice cream. Ever.”