Whaaaat? I just wanted to spend time with my best friend and this way, maybe I’d catch a glimpse ofErik, too.
Luckily, Lilian was on my side. She said, “I’ve got the guest room ready for you, Sonny. Declan doesn’t have to leave for another few minutes so you have time to freshen up.”
I grinned, bouncing off the sofa and rushing back towards the door to grab my bags.
“Thanks Lilian, you’re the best.”
As I went upstairs and dumped my bags in the guest room, I tried not to be disappointed that I was in there. It was a nice room. The wallpaper was tastefully neutral, neither too feminine nor too masculine. It was actually a beautiful room. Only my heart sank to be in there because a little part of me had thought that maybe Declan would want me inhisroom.
It had been a stupid dream, considering I hadn’t stayed in Declan’s bedroom since we’d been kids having sleepovers, but still… I’d thought about it.
Okay, okay, maybe I’d been letting my imagination run wild and maybe I’d been reading too many romances but here we were, spending Christmas together, I’d been in love with Declan since I’d first understood what love was and probably even before then, and at the very least I’d expected there to be only one bed.
The fact that there was a whole house for me to sleep in and I knew it as well as I knew my own childhood home and I’d known for sure there was a spare room waiting for me was irrelevant.
Still, I wasn’t going to let that get me down. I was here, with Declan, and I got to spend Christmas with him and soak up some of that familiarity I’d been missing so much for the past few months.
Declan was waiting by the car by the time I got outside.
“Am I holding you up?” I asked.
“No.”
Sliding into the driver’s seat, I asked, “Are you sure?”
Declan was silent for a moment and I held my breath. He could be funny about things sometimes. He didn’t open up to people as easily as I did.
Eventually, he said, “It can take a while, to get outside. I thought I’d make a head start.”
“Oh, okay.”
I glanced at him and smiled. For the first time in weeks I could smell Declan. His scent had been almost permanently in my car and my flat before his accident, since we’d been around each other so often. But not recently. It was heaven to have it back.
“What are you grinning at?”
I tried to straighten my face, failed, and burst out laughing. “Nothing! I’m just happy to be here. I really have missed you.”
He spoke quietly. “I know. I’ve missed you too, Sonny.”
Whereas I was nearly bursting with joy, Declan looked exhausted and depressed. It was different for us, I knew.Ihadn’t been the one injured.Ihadn’t been in the collision. My life had changed only because Declan wasn’t in it as much, which sucked, but it was nothing compared to what he was going through.
My heart squeezed painfully inside my chest. I wanted so badly to make everything right for him, but I just didn’t know how to do it.
I’d known him long enough to know when he needed a bit of space, though, so I drove quietly along the deserted streets out of the village and towards the town situated a few miles away. When I’d been little, I’d thought the town was huge, a bustling metropolis. Of course, now I lived in an actual city, the town was laughably small. Still, I was glad there was such a good physiotherapy team near enough for Declan to get to.
“You’re quiet,” he said suddenly. “Are you tired?”
“Nah, not really.”
I glanced at him, and caught his sceptical look. It made me laugh again.
“Alright, yes, I am a bit. I couldn’t sleep last night. I was too excited to come and see you.”
Did that make me sound a bit desperate?
Maybe I shouldn’t have said it.
“I’m glad you’re here,” he said, and I hugged those words to me as I drove.
