Page 123 of The Thought of You

thirty-nine

OWEN

Addie laughs as I finish vacuuming up the pile of pancakes into my mouth.

I catch a runaway blueberry from the side and pop it into my mouth as I bask in the light sound of her laughter. It’s much better than the sounds she made last night.

She was right earlier—it did get scary there for a moment. I hated that she was in so much pain and discomfort, but I can breathe a little easier now that more color has returned to her cheeks.

The tops of her ears get even redder after I kiss her.

She nibbles on her single pancake, but she mostly munches on a few crackers.

“Still not able to eat, huh?” I wince. “And I’m a jackass who just devoured five pancakes.”

“I did tell you to, so you’re just being a good boy.”

“You know I can’t resist it when you’re bossy.” I wink as her easy smile sends shots of relief throughout my nervous system. I push the bakery box to the side. “Lottie sends her love with the muffins. I was supposed to ask for your favorite, but you were still asleep. She grabbed one of each.”

“I’ll have to send her a thank-you cobbler.”

“A text is fine.”

She rolls her eyes. “What are you doing today?” she asks over her glass of water before she sips.

“Nothing planned. You?”

“In light of recent events, I’m going to take it easy, especially now that I don’t have a whole house to clean and disinfect.”

“Movie marathon?” I suggest.

“You’d be okay with watching movie after movie on a sunny Saturday?” She arches a brow.

“If it’s with you, yes.” I push my plate aside and fold my arms over the table in front of me. “Besides, I’m a bit of a controlling nurturer and would like to keep an eye on you to ensure you’re actually going to take it easy today.”

“As long as you don’t strap an ankle monitor to me, you can stay,” she teases and rises to put away our plates.

Once I thank her for breakfast again, I hold my hands up. “I’m going to wash these bad boys. Got a little crazy with the syrup.”

I waltz out of the kitchen, easily making my way around her house after only a day. We got extremely acquainted yesterday as I tried to tackle the things that needed to be done around here.

In the bathroom, I change the Band-Aid on my finger from where I cut it on the lawn mower as I installed a new spark plug. It was me against the wily beast, and while it got its jab in, I came out on top and was able to fix it in order to cut down the jungle in Addie’s yard.

I exit to find Addie chewing on her thumbnail as she paces the living room. “What’s wrong? You getting sick again?” I ask, my instincts jumping into emergency mode yet again.

“What happened at school yesterday?” She pauses and stares blankly at me. “Because if that other stuff wasn’t all a dream, then neither was the fact that you brought Sable to my class or that you gave me a ride home. Not just that, but you invited random people to my house, where you showered and made yourself comfortable.” She waves her hands around.

“Did you really think I was going to let you drive home by yourself? You were in no condition,” I reason.

“Owen, Sable—our freaking boss—saw you give me a ride home.”

“So?” I blink, completely lost on her zigzagging trains of thought today. She’s definitely disoriented, and I don’t blame her, not after the horrendous fucking night she had.

But I thought we were done with her analysis of the events.

Addie paces again, throwing her head back to look at the ceiling. “Who else saw you giving me a ride? And what about Lottie and Bo—who are they going to tell that you were here? Can they be trusted not to tell anyone about us?”

And there it is.

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