Page 28 of The Way We Were(wolf)

“He mentioned something about Mountain Brew always selling out of them way early and one morning you didn’t get one. Well, you’d gotten one, and then you fought the urge to lick your shirt? I’ve gotta be honest, the details after that are a little fuzzy because I kept imagining you licking cream-cheese frosting off yourself.”

She shook her head as moisture pooled in her eyes. “I can’t believe he did that,” she said in a whisper, her breath too caught in her lungs to say it any louder.

“Well, believe it.” Stella dabbed her mouth with a napkin and tossed it on her empty plate. “That man is one smitten kitten.”

“Was,” Lucy corrected as she looked at the clock. Not that tardiness meant he wasn’t into her anymore. But this all felt too familiar—creating distance before someone lowered the boom, showed their true colors, hurt her.

He’d said no more than two words to her when he came in yesterday, and she hadn’t gotten so much as a text from him since the night they decorated the window. And when she’d asked if he wanted to hang out last night—something they’d done nearly every night since they’d gotten together—he blew her off with a vague excuse. Said he was “doing things.” All evidence pointed to yet another disappointment, another tally on the scoreboard of the times Lucy was let down by someone she trusted too much. Even if he’d assured her on the phone that he would definitely be here tonight, his absence proved what she’d feared ever since she admitted to herself that she was falling for him.

“He’s coming,” Stella said, like she could read Lucy’s thoughts as she hugged her. “I don’t know any men who would learn how to make a very tricky dessert for just anyone.” She felt her cousin’s body shake as she laughed softly in her ear. “Do you remember the first one that was in the break room?”

“You mean the one that looked like someone ran it over with a car, kicked it into reverse, and backed over it?”

“He said he’d dropped the container on the way to work. I didn’t believe him, figured it was a kitchen fail at its finest. But then I saw how badly his hands were shaking.” She pulled back, looking at Lucy through her costume glasses. “He’ll be here.”

“I know,” Lucy said with a nod, popping a bite of the pumpkin roll in her mouth.

“People always show up for the people they love.”

“Mmmmm,” she mumbled, wanting to interject but also not wanting to talk with her mouth open—or spit chunks of her dessert on her cousin. This dessert was too delicious—too precious—to waste a morsel. “He doesn’t…I’m not…I can’t be…”

“You don’t have to finish those sentences. Just finish your dessert because I think it’s showtime.” Stella nodded her head toward the door, and Lucy almost choked on her food.

Because there he stood, sleeves ripped to show off his forearms, face painted better than anything she’d ever seen in the movies. The sexiest zombie she’d ever seen. The lone, undead stylist for the ghoulfriends display.

Eric stilled. The only part of him that moved was the rise and fall of his chest and eyes that roved over every inch of Lucy’s face. She swallowed hard, her mouth dry from the combination of pastry and hot zombie. She offered a small wave from behind the receptionist desk, which was so totally lame she wished she was dead. Or maybe undead. Whatever would let her spend an eternity with this man. A man who had slaved away, surprising her with her favorite treat for weeks. A man who had helped bring her out of the funk she’d been in since she came to town. A man who’dshown up, just like he’d promised.

“See? Maybe he just needed some extra time to get ready,” Stella said as she rose from her chair, startling Lucy a little. Frankly, she’d forgotten she was even there. “Totally worth the wait.”

You ain’t kidding. But Stella probably meant his get-up. Yes, that was wonderful, but not as amazing as the man who walked toward her, his shadowed eyes still not leaving her face.

“Ready to get this show on the road?” His sentiment was lighthearted, but his tone was not. In fact, it seemed quite intense for an evening of fun and candy. But maybe he was just in character. She could appreciate that. Though, she still couldn’t shake the nagging thought that something was bothering him.

“Is everything okay?”

He nodded like a bobblehead, like the more times his head bounced, the more convincing his answer would be. “Definitely. I just…lost track of time while I was getting ready.”

“Oh, okay.” She didn’t quite buy it. But if he didn’t want to talk, she wasn’t going to pry. “I’m just glad you made it.”

“Me too.” His voice was soft, the edges of it rough like gravel. And was that a sheen of moisture covering his eyes? Before she could get a better look, he wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her body as close to his as they could get without morphing into one person.

Pressing his lips to hers, there was an urgency that wasn’t there before. Like he was trying to fit a million sentiments into this singular action. And she wanted to crack every code, hear every word he wasn’t saying, know every thought he held tight. But there would be time for that later. Right now, it was her chance to relay her own message to him.

And maybe later, when the festival was over and they walked home, she’d get her chance to tell him with words everything she’d begun to realize these past few weeks. Things she’d never told anyone because she thought she couldn’t trust them. But she was wrong. Because the reason she couldn’t tell anyone was that she’d never felt it before.

And tonight, Lucy would stop thinking with her brain and start trusting with her heart.

She didn’t think I was coming.

As soon as Eric walked into the salon and saw her slack expression, he mentally punched a wall because he’d been the one to put that look on her face. He’d been the one to make her doubt whether she could trust him after he’d assured her so many times that she could. He’d been the one who let his emotions take the reins and pull him right into her path. Right into this world where he foolishly believed the two of them could live together in perfect harmony without a care in the world. Right into a fantasy land, because he knew the truth—that Nathan was right. They couldn’t be together.

And what a punch in the gut that was. No, a punch in the heart, a blow right in the center of his chest. A hit so devastating that how he pulled himself together enough to come here tonight was a wonder even to him. Because holding her in his arms, running his fingers through her hair, was making this whole thing so much worse. But he couldn’t bring himself to stop. It was true: love made people do stupid, stupid things.

His knee bounced a mile a minute as he sat in the waiting area, wasting time while Lucy got ready in the back. And he really was wasting time, because each second he sat here was a second closer to him showing his true colors—the ones that had come out the other night in the woods. The ones that confirmed what he’d always known but had been in denial about—that he was a monster.

“Ready to see your ghoulfriend?” Lucy shouted from the end of the hallway, out of Eric’s line of sight. That was a loaded question. He wasn’t ready for any of this. But as much as he hated to admit that Nathan was right, he knew he loved Lucy enough to walk away from her. Even if it killed him.

At least he wouldn’t killher.

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