Page 96 of The Sunken Truth

“I could close up for a while and come and stay with you.”

“Only if you wanted to.”

“I’d like that. I imagine it will be a little quiet here for my liking.”

“I can’t imagine it here in the winter.” There was a faraway quality in his voice, as though he’d be sad to miss it.

“You leaving seems surreal,” she said, happy that they were finally talking about it instead of avoiding the subject. “I still keep thinking something will happen and you’ll be able to stay.”

“Fingers crossed,” he whispered.

An ache started in her chest. Maybe talking about it wasn’t so great after all. Dwelling on his leaving didn’t seem like the best approach to the next couple of weeks – what she should do was make the most of having him around.

“Do you want to come over?” she asked, her heart speeding up as the words left her mouth. It pounded even more furiously when he hesitated to reply.

“If I come over there, I won’t want to leave,” he finally said.

“I wasn’t planning onkicking you out.”

“I know.”

She laughed nervously.

“Sorry,” he said. “I definitelywantto come over… it’s just that…”

“What?” she asked, an impatient bite to the word.

“I thought I might take you out on a date if that’s okay.”

“Now?”

“No. Not now. It’s late.”

“Yeah,” she said slowly. “I’m going to need you to keep talking, because I’m not sure what’s going on here…”

“I just don’t usually date people.”

“Your reputation would suggest otherwise.”

“I sleep with random women,” he said bluntly. “Or I used to. But I never properly dated anyone.”

“Never?”

“I avoided it. But I would like to go on dates with you. I want things to be different with us.”

“Okay,” she said, basking in the warmth that pooled in her stomach. “Where are you going to take me?”

“I was thinking of a sunset picnic on the beach.”

“So this date involves me making a picnic, does it?”

“No.” He laughed. “I’ll take care of everything.”

“Promise you won’t stand me up this time?”

“I promise.”

She moved to stand up when a yawn overtook her.