Page 44 of Sweet Home

He reached out and cupped her cheek, the gentle contact sending a rush of pleasure through her. The look in his eyes turned to wonder as she leaned into his touch.

Dulcie forgot to breathe as West leaned down, his eyes still on her mouth, his lips moving slowly toward hers.

But before they could complete their journey, her phone buzzed in her pocket.

“Oh,” she said in surprise.

West stepped back as if he had been hypnotized and the sound of her phone had snapped him out of it.

“I’ll just grab the tea,” he muttered, heading to the stove as if nothing had happened.

Heartbroken, and too flustered to do anything else Dulcie pulled her phone from her pocket as she began to breathe again.

dad

where’s my car?

A cold finger of dread slid down her spine, and all the happy anticipation that had filled her chest just a moment ago turned to ash.

“Everything okay?” West asked, setting their mugs down on the table.

“It’s fine,” she said, hoping her face didn’t give her away. “I’m feeling kind of tired though. I should probably go message my sister and then head to bed.”

“Sleep well,” West said witha sad smile.

He looked like he wanted to say more, maybe even apologize for almost kissing her. Her heart broke a little at the idea of him apologizing for something she had wanted so dearly.

She gave him a silly little wave and headed back to her room quickly, before she could open her mouth and embarrass herself.

After she’d taken a quick shower and slipped into her pajamas, she pulled out her phone again. Just knowing that the message was on there made her feel sick to her stomach.

He doesn’t know where I am,she reminded herself.I’m fine. Everything is okay.

Her finger hovered over thedeletebutton for a moment. But she ultimately tapped on her text with Delphine instead.

It was a pathetic sight. Just a long line of her own messages without replies. She had been texting up a storm about West and Elizabeth over the last twenty-four hours without a single reply.

She hadn’t really expected a response. She knew Delphine probably wouldn’t get minutes on her phone plan anytime soon. And honestly, it was pretty likely that Dad had confiscated the phone or maybe even sold it. But it still comforted her to talk to her sister.

Soon,she told herself.We’ll be together again soon.

The subject of her pay hadn’t come up, but if she was living here and West kept feeding her, she could save all of it, no matter how much it was. Surely that meant she could find a tiny apartment for the two of them above one of the shops in town.

Before she knew it, her fingers were dancing on the screen.

we went to the tree lighting ceremony in town. you would have loved it. the people here take care of each other. they were all so happy to be donating gifts and clothing. elizabeth was really excited to drop off her donations

She tried to stop herself from writing anything more, but she really had no one else to share with and her emotions seemed to be overflowing tonight.

west seemed really happy tonight. he was talking to me in the kitchen.

i think maybe he wanted to kiss me

and i think i wanted him to

As soon as she saw the words on the screen she shook her head at her own foolishness. She was supposed to be setting a good example for Delphine, being a good person and working hard, not crushing on her boss.

She deleted the kiss messages and sent something better.

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