Page 15 of Promise Me Sunshine

“Fine. Fine. Whatever. Then option two. You can sleep on my couch.”

I recoil. “Ew. Pass. You’re a strange man.”

He gestures around the ferry. “You are literally surrounded by strange men.”

“Were there other options?”

He groans and drags a hand down his face. “Option three. We both stay on the ferry all night, get absolute shit sleep, and drag our asses back up to Ainsley in the morning.”

“Well, option three is what I was gonna do anyways, so suit yourself, I guess.”

I lean back and pretend to get comfortable as I feel the ferry slide into the port at Manhattan.

The passengers start to disembark. The horn blows. Miles is still sitting there. When I peek at him, he’s staring at me but eye contact makes him quickly glance away. He frustratedly runs his hands over his short hair and then leans back with a sigh, crossing his arms.

I close my eyes.

“I saw the book,” he says in a low voice.

My eyes pop back open and he’s got dark eyes trained on my face.Grief and You.What an excruciatingly awful title. I can’t look away.

“I’vereadthat book,” he continues, and my stomach drops out. Nobody reads that book for funsies. “I’ve been here…I mean, Iknow…Look, I’ve also yelled at a stranger or two in my time, okay?”

I don’t say anything.

He holds my eye contact and then sighs. “If you want me to get off the ferry and leave you alone, I will.”

I still don’t say anything. The ferry pulls away from shore, headed back out onto open water. His eyes go closed again as he situates himself against the wall. It’s a long time before I close mine.

Chapter Four

At fivea.m.something warm and gentle touches my face. Wait, no, it’s not gentle. It’s Miles pressing two fingers into my forehead and foisting me off his shoulder.

“Can we please get off the ferry now?” he grumbles.

I blink fully awake and nod, nothing witty to say. Because what a terrible night’s sleep. If he hadn’t been here I probably would have stretched out with my bag as a pillow. Instead we sat up as straight as possible and nodded in and out for hours.

We drag ourselves onto land and eye the train distastefully. I get the feeling he’s dreading more public transportation as much as I am.

“Coffee,” I say, like a zombie, pointing at a little café that’s just flicked on its lights.

“Coffee,” he agrees. Zombie number two, I guess.

We’re back out with our gallons of coffee clenched between our hands. It’s August so it’ll probably be hot again today, but right now it’s predawn and chilly. It’s so early that the sun is still a mere suggestion on the other side of the island, but this is New York, so there are already people lifting weights in the grass, yapping on cellphones, running the mile in under five minutes. I watch the world and attempt to think about nothing.

But his words come back to me.I saw the book. I’vereadthat book.“So. Um.”

He’s staring at my profile, clearly waiting for me to saymore. When I can’t come up with anything, he makes that same frustrated noise I’m starting to get acclimated to. “Look,” he says. “It’s clearly not my business. But…in terms of you taking care of Ainsley. Like I said, it’s better for everyone if you’re…not in a bad situation.”

“You know today is my last day, right? It was just a weekend gig while Reese was out of town.”

“Well, actually…I get the feeling that Reese might want to make it more permanent. Clearly you get along with Ainsley.”

I squint up at him. “How would Reese even know that? She’s barely seen me with her.”

He shrugs and looks away. “Are you saying that you would turn it down if she asked you to stay on?”

“Are you saying that if I stayed on, you’d perform a personal background check on my life to make sure I was a good influence on Ainsley?”

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