Page 64 of Exile

Chapter 19

DARWYNN

Dinner was tense but civil. Mom chose to go to the small, quiet restaurant that she loved, a cozy place with dim lighting and soft music playing in the background. The conversation remained on safe topics. We talked about how the food tasted, a funny memory from my childhood, and small talk that filled the silence but didn’t quite ease the tension.

Caspian and Mom were careful around each other as if stepping on thin ice, but it was progressing. It was something. And I didn’t expect them to fully open up after all these years. Although, Caspian would’ve definitely wanted to.

Now and then, he looked at her with unspoken emotions in his eyes. But he didn’t push her. Didn’t want to make her talk when she was perfectly fine sitting there, keeping her past without him in it to herself.

Caspian respected her boundaries. She, in turn, didn’t shut him out completely because she did answer all of his questions. I counted that as a small victory.

By the time we left, the air between us felt a little lighter. The drive back home was mostly quiet, with me sitting in the backseat, feeling rather awkward.

When we arrived back at the house, Mom went to prepare the guest bedroom for Caspian. I didn’t like the idea of him sleeping right down the hall from me without me being able to get into bed next to him. It would be the first night in a while being apart from each other, but what was one night when we had the rest of our lives together?

I smiled at Caspian, daring to step closer while Mom was still upstairs. “I thought today went well,” I said, taking his hand carefully.

He turned to me and nodded, interlocking our fingers as he squeezed my hand. “Yeah, I thought so too. Though, she’s still pretty damn cold. Not sure she’ll ever open up to me.”

“Maybe not, but at least she’s accepting you back into her life. I say that’s a big step for someone like her.”

He studied me closely and gave a small nod, silently accepting everything that happened today. “I figured so. But I’m pleased, though. Grateful that you made this happen.”

I lifted our hands to my lips and pressed a kiss to the back of his hand, smiling up at him. Our moment was interrupted when Mom walked down the stairs. I stepped away, putting space between us.

“The guest room is ready,” she said as she reached the bottom of the stairs, her voice natural.

Caspian offered a small smile. “Thank you, Julie.”

She nodded, then said, “Well, I’m off to bed. I’ll make us breakfast tomorrow morning. Good night.”

“Night, Mom.” We watched as she followed the narrow hall to her bedroom which was located on the ground floor.

I led Caspian upstairs to the guest room, and he entered it, looking around before dropping his overnight bag on the floor. The room had once been Mom’s, but when Dale came to live with us, she decided to move to the empty bedroom downstairs for privacy reasons.

“It’s not much, but it should be enough for one night,” I said, my eyes wandering from the double bed to the nightstand and over to the desk.

“It’ll do.”

I lingered in the doorway, watching as Caspian started to unpack. I didn’t want to leave. Sleeping alone just didn’t sound right.

“Well,” I murmured, shifting on my feet, “get some rest. You must be tired from all the driving.”

Caspian met my gaze, his lips twitching like he had something to say, but he just nodded. “Yeah.”

I pursed my lips. “You know, just because we’re here doesn’t mean we can’t—”

“Darwynn, your mother is right downstairs.”

I felt a sense of regret in his voice, and I hated that I hadn’t noticed it before. My face fell, and I dropped my gaze to my hands. “You’re not rethinking all of this, are you? This between us?”

He stepped closer the second I uttered those words, and I stared at his feet, unable to look up at him. My heart was racing in my chest, and the most upsetting thoughts flashed in through my mind.

“Darwynn.” His voice was low, raspy. “Look at me.”

I clenched my jaw but didn’t look up. I couldn’t. Not when he was ready to end this.

“Darwynn.” His voice was hard, determined. “I’m not going to ask you again.”

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