Page 265 of My Sweet Dollie, You Have to Love Me
Jane Eyre.
“We can read from wherever you are, if you haven’t finished it.”
I haven’t, and I let her pick up from chapter twenty-seven, reading aloud to me.
The wind interrupts her now and again, Dollie’s voice shaking as the storm outside worsens.
To soothe her, my fingers dance up and down her arm, and each time I do that, she relaxes with a big breath that tickles my throat as she nuzzles close to my neck.
We’re deep into a new chapter when a message interrupts her reading.
Valaria.
It’s not important, just her checking in to see if I’m doing okay, nothing about work, which is unusual and slightly endearing.
I like the idea that people don’t only tolerate me because of what I can do for them, and that there are people in this world who see me as something other than a monster.
Maybe as a friend, even.
It kinda felt that way yesterday morning when she stopped by after hearing what had happened at the cemetery with the locals.
“Do you want to answer?” Dollie asks, her eyes on my mouth.
Not wanting to breathe on her, I close my lips and shake my head, the light from my phone lighting up my face. There’s no rush to answer that message. So, I nod for Dollie to continue.
“‘Was there a lady of the house?—’ Can I ask you something?”
I nod, curious about why she stopped reading.
“Valaria is the person who was here yesterday?”
My head bobs.
“That wasn’t my question.”
I wait for her to ask another.
“Please be honest this time. Are you sleeping with her?”
Caught off guard by her asking a question I’ve already answered, I pull myself from her side and move her to face me so she can see my mouth better. But she keeps talking.
“I know I shouldn’t ask because really, it’s none of my business, but seeing her leave yesterday, it made me angry with you. I said some horribly judgmental things that I didn’t mean.” Her fingers trail the scars around my mouth. “I think I hurt you, and I never want to do that… but seeing you with her?—”
I shake my head, not even needing Dollie to explain further.
She didn’t mean what she said.
She’s sorry.
And there is absolutely nothing going on between me and Valaria, and I definitely don’t want her thinking that if it’s upsetting her so much.
And it is… tears shine in her eyes as my phone lights up her face.
“Have you ever been with her? You know, like that?”
I take my phone from her small hands, my fingers intentionally brushing hers because I want to touch her again. I send emails that I let her read from my hand, as she might not see my lips move in the dark.
AmbroseLa’[email protected]:
