Page 52 of Tenure

I grab my book and my glasses off the nightstand and drag a chair from the corner of the bedroom in behind me, plunking it down at the head of the tub where her hair is spilling over the side. I lean back in my seat, sticking my legs out in front of me and crossing them at the ankles, settling in and opening my book.

She rolls over in the water so she’s on her stomach, and I look over the top of my glasses at her. She crosses her arms over the edge and lays her cheek down on her forearm, staring up at me with soft eyes.

“Read to me?”

I open my mouth, but my tongue gets stuck.

Don’t say it again. DON’T fucking say it again.

I clear my throat. “Sure.”

“What are you reading?”

“Sapiens.”

“By Yuri Harari?”

“Yeah.”

She smiles, closes her eyes, sinks deeper into the water. “I love this book.”

Do. Not. Say it.

“Me too,” I say quietly.

40

Kiernan

Apart from the deep, aching internal bruising, I feel like a million bucks. I’d basically woken up in a bathtub, and then he’d read to me about evolution until the water started to get cold.

I wander out into the main room in my towel. He’s talking on the phone with someone, but his eyes are glued to me, and I smile warmly at him before bending down to pick up my dress off the floor.

“Hang on just a sec,” he says into his phone. “What are you doing?” At me, this time.

“Um, getting dressed?”

“Why?”

“So you can take me home?”

“I’m not taking you home.”

“James, I should really get home.”

“Kiernan,no you shouldn’t.”

I hear murmuring and realize the person on the other end of the line is saying something.

“No, I’m not calling you back, just hang on a minute,” he says to whoever it is.

I roll my eyes at him. “James. We’re going to get sick of each other at this rate.”

His face falls. “You’re sick of me?”

I could swear I hear laughing on the other end of the phone.

I roll my eyes. “No, I’m not sick of you. But don’t you think this is a bit much?”

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