Page 35 of All Her Broken Pieces

“I do have an espresso maker. It’s in the lower cupboard under the island. I don’t keep it out since it takes up so much space on the counter.”

His face lights up as he sets his mug down and all but races to the kitchen. He locates it in the cupboard and flashes a playful, dimple-filled grin at me. He has entirely too much twentysomething energy this early in the morning. “Tomorrow, I’m making you something special. I need to stop by the restaurant and grab some espresso powder and a few other things. Maybe we can swing by there on our walk later today.”

Fuck, he’s already planning another day here. “We’ll see how today goes,” I warn as I continue sipping my nectar of life. Every swallow makes me feel more human. Though I’m interested to see what he can whip up.Nope. Tamp that thought down right now.

Eager to change the subject, I ask, “So what were you watching when I came in?”

“Do you promise not to tease me?”

“I can make no such promise.”

He lets out a deep breath before turning on his phone and handing it to me, sitting beside me on the couch. The girlish giggling continues as the woman on the screen says, “The uglier you go to bed, the hotter you’ll be when you wake up!” She gestures wildly, moving her hands back and forth to show off the products in front of her.

“Are you watching get unready with me videos?” I can’t hide the shock in my voice. Why would he do this? How long has he been up watching these?

“Yup. They’re actually interesting. Until you showed me your routine last night, I didn’t know this was a thing. I had so many questions after you went to bed, so I lay out here on the couch and fell down a rabbit hole.” He rests his hand on my leg as his thumb swipes back and forth over my bare skin. A shiver briefly runs through me at the touch. “And then this morning, I honestly felt a difference in my skin, so I wanted to keep learning more about it… and you were sleeping. I figured you needed your rest.”

“Are you fucking with me right now?” I ask incredulously.

“What do you mean?” His brows knit in confusion.

“This doesn’t make sense to me.” I wave a hand over his body to make my point. “I don’t understand why you’re doing this. Make it make sense.”

“It’s important to you. I wanted to learn everything I could about it.” He pauses but I don’t give him a reaction. “Isn’t that what you do for the people you care about?”

“No one’s ever done this for me.”

“Then you need better friends,” he chides, nudging his shoulder into mine. He must see the anger flash in my eyes, so he adds, “Or maybe they’ve done this for you, and you never noticed.”

I must look like a fish the way my mouth hangs open as I stare into his emerald eyes. This is dangerous. The way he’s looking at me, and not just with his eyes. As though he truly sees me. I have barriers in place to prevent this. How did he get past them?

He starts speaking before I can form a thought. “When you shared your routine with me last night, it got me thinking. You’d mentioned that you did parts of it because it’s what you were taught. I like knowing the why behind things. I thought it was kind of strange putting on SPF before bed, so I wanted to know if there was a reason behind it.”

“And what did you find out?” I ask, partly interested in what he may have learned but equally annoyed that it feels like he might be questioning my methods and reasoning.

“According to several influencers, it’s not necessary and can clog your pores. Apparently, there are varying schools of thought around eye cream too. Some think it’s necessary, and others say you don’t need a special cream for one part of your face when you can use an all-over moisturizer, which you do.

“I also saw that there’s this stone you can use to rub your products in called a gua sha. And I know I’m pronouncing that right because I watched multiple videos where it was mentioned. It’s actually not recommended that you use a washcloth, so you might want to switch to a microfiber cloth for drying your face and a silicone body mitt for scrubbing. Oh, and there are these LED face and neck massagers that look cool, like rubbing a lightsaber on your face.”

I look at him dumbstruck. He looks so proud of himself, and it pisses me off more.

“You know what a gua sha is, right?” he asks.

“You’re not mansplaining skincare to me right now, are you?”

Embarrassment lights up his face as he realizes that he was doing exactly that. “Shit, I didn’t mean to. I tend to go down an information rabbit hole when I research and get really excited about what I learn. My mom’s a teacher and always says that the best way to retain information is by teaching it to others. When I learn something, I end up giving someone an info dump of that knowledge. It drives Alyx crazy when I do it at the restaurant.”

“It’s driving me crazy. I know what a gua sha is. I just never found it effective. Maybe I wasn’t using it consistently enough, though.”

“That’s fair. Have you tried one of those LED face and neck massagers though? Now I’m wondering if they actually work or if I’ve fallen victim to viral marketing. Damn influencers making me drink their Kool-Aid.” He laughs, and I can’t help how charming I find it.

“I haven’t tried one of those. But I’ve wondered the same thing,” I admit. “Those Korean collagen masks too.”

He flashes me a genuine smile, and I can’t help but release the tension I’d been holding in my clenched hands. It’s kind of sweet that he spent the night learning about this, as long as he doesn’t try to tell me what to do. I know what’s best for me and my skin. I know what’s best for everything in my life.

“One of my sisters is on the autism spectrum, and she tends to obsess over different things. I end up researching everything I can about the things that pique her interest, and that habit shows up in other areas of my life. With other…” he trails off, clearing his throat. “Uh… friends.” It sounds like the word feels bitter on his tongue, but at least it’s starting to sink in for him. We are just friends.

“What kind of stuff is your sister into?” I ask hesitantly, not sure I want to learn more about him and his life but honestly curious after everything he shared about his barfing sisters last night.

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