Page 37 of What He Always Knew

“I’m very surprised,” she said, placing the vase of flowers on her desk. She fiddled with a few of the stems before turning to me again, slowly trailing her hands up my arms to hook behind my neck. “Thank you.”

I kissed her. Because there was nothing else to do in that moment. When she looked at me like that, when her eyes lit up for me and not for him, I had to find a way to seal that snapshot of time in her mind.

“I can’t remember the last time you came to Westchester,” she said, her big eyes searching mine. “I mean, other than the concert. I guess what I mean is I can’t remember the last time you came here, to this wing.”

“To your room,” I finished for her.

She smiled, nodding. “Yeah.”

“Well, I took your car into the shop. They’re going to take a look and get back to me. But they gave me a rental until then, and I already took off work, so I figured I’d surprise you for lunch. Can you sneak away to go off campus? If not, we can just go to the café.”

Charlie shifted.

“Um, maybe I could run down and grab something for us, and then we could eat here.”

“In your classroom?”

She nodded, her eyes skirting to the open door behind me.

And that’s when I realized.

She was supposed to have lunch withhim.

I swallowed, heat creeping up my neck. “Okay. Should I wait here?”

But before she could answer, there was a knock on the frame of her door, and I turned to find Reese gaping at us just as Charlie pulled back.

She cleared her throat. “Hey, Reese. Cam surprised me for lunch,” she said quickly. “I know we were supposed to go over plans for the conference, but I figured we could talk more on that in the morning?”

Reese was still staring at me, like he couldn’t believe I was in my own wife’s classroom. It was like I didn’t belong, and I guessed that, in a way, for him, I didn’t. This was where he’d had Charlie alone. It was where he’d gotten her to open up to him.

In his eyes, I wasn’t supposed to be here.

I smirked.

Reese narrowed his eyes at that, stepping into the classroom with his hands slipping easily inside the pockets of his slacks. “Hey, Cameron, nice to see you,” he said, a fake smile finding his lips.

“Likewise,” I managed.

Reese evaluated me, his jaw tense. “Those flowers from you?”

I didn’t answer. We both knew they were, and I wasn’t dealing into whatever game he was trying to play.

He sniffed. “They’re nice. I didn’t realize you liked lilies, Charlie.”

At that, I glanced at the flowers, and then at Charlie.

She didn’t like lilies. She liked daisies.

How could I forget that?

Charlie ignored the dig, her arms folding over her chest. “We’re going to go off campus to eat. Can you let Robin know I’ll be a little late getting back? She knows the rest of the plans for the day.”

Reese swallowed at that. “Sure. Is seven still okay for me to pick you up tomorrow, then?”

I frowned, finding Charlie. “I was going to take you to the airport on my way to work.”

She cringed. “Well, I just knew that would make you late for work. Reese offered to pick me up, since it’s on his way, and we’re both going to the same place.”