All the Feels (Spoiler Alert #2)(45)

For a moment, she could have sworn he was going to hug her. If he did, she was relatively certain she’d pass out.

Then the moment was gone, and they were walking toward the exit, and he flashed that infuriating, charming smirk at her. “Miss me, Wren?”

“Terribly,” she said dryly, and with more sincerity than she would wish.

“Likewise.” He slung an arm around her shoulders, tugging her into his side for a split-second embrace before releasing her. “In fact, your absence made me philosophical. If a tree misbehaves in a forest and no one is there to scold it, did the tree really misbehave at all? I say no. Let me explain my reasoning, in scintillating and exacting detail.”

His monologue lasted for several minutes straight, which was convenient, because the imprint of his body against hers had left her unable to speak.

But the ache in her chest was gone. Completely, utterly gone.

Texts with Carah: Sunday Afternoon

Alex: In an airplane AGAIN



Alex: So BORED



Alex: ENTERTAIN ME, CARAH



Carah: Where’s Lauren, you whiny bitch



Alex: I thought I was the designated gossipy bitch, but if I can be two types of bitches, all the better



Alex: I contain bitchy multitudes



Alex: Anyway, Nanny Clegg is off having fun with her friend Sionna for the weekend, which is completely unfair, since she won’t let ME have any fun



Carah: I liked Lauren



Carah: I enjoyed meeting her at the auction



Carah: What exactly has she stopped you from doing, may I ask



Alex: SO MUCH, SO SO MUCH



Alex: She nags me to eat enough breakfast when I take my ADHD meds, even when I’d prefer to get going and do other things, which is really annoying



Alex: To be fair, my stomach hurts today because I didn’t eat enough breakfast



Alex: Which is really annoying too, because I hate it when she’s right



Carah: …



Alex: And I should have been having fun with Marcus and April, and I did have fun, but Lauren stopped me from having MORE fun by having her phone on silent and not answering my messages, and then I was checking my phone all the time instead of paying attention to Marcus and April, and that’s totally on her



Alex: And THEN, when I should have been binge-watching baking shows with my best friend, instead I had to go out and buy her a present



Alex: I got her a blanket, because she’s a wet blanket



Alex: Get it????



Alex: It’s really soft and quilted and fluffy



Alex: A pretty green with just a hint of blue



Alex: I think that’s my favorite color



Alex: She’s a killjoy and the worst but she deserves soft, pretty things, and she doesn’t do anything nice for herself ever, which is also extremely annoying, as you might imagine



Alex: As I said: THE ABSOLUTE WORST



Alex: Carah?



Alex: Carah, it’d be nice if you RESPONDED at some point



Carah: Sorry, too busy laughing to type



Carah: Alex, you are a fucking delight



Carah: I have to go film myself eating lutefisk in Maria’s honor, so entertain your own whiny ass while I try not to hork on camera



Carah: BYEEEEEE, MOFO



Alex: Carah?



Alex: CARAH, COME BAAAAAAAAAAAAACK





14


THE NEXT TWO MONTHS DID NOT PASS IN A HAZE. ALEX’S presence wouldn’t allow for that, and neither would Lauren’s newfound attraction to him.

She might sometimes be tired from late-night walks, frustrated at the intractability and irascibility of her charge, and irritated beyond belief at his continual needling, but she was wholly present. Wholly engaged, body and mind. Wholly herself in a way she wasn’t with anyone but Sionna.

For years, she’d spent her daily life encased in a bubble of calm and neutrality and observation, but no more.

Alex punctured that bubble daily—hourly—with his sharp gaze, incisive commentary, and biting sarcasm. With his unabashed flaunting of his honed body. With the way he flung himself headlong at her and everything else he cared about in his life, like it or not.

Often, she didn’t like it. But she liked him.

Despite his quick temper and caustic sarcasm, despite the way her skin prickled in his presence, she’d never laughed more in her damn life, and she’d never flipped someone off more either. He loved aggravating her. Loved it.

With Dina, though, he was as soft as Captain Fluffytail.

Evidently, he’d first met his housekeeper on a tour of his charity’s shelters, and after hearing her story, immediately offered her work.

Dina was Lauren’s age. Beautiful, plainspoken, savvy, and confident. Engaged to a good, kind woman. Her own hero, as Alex might have said. But he’d been a supportive sidekick in her time of need, and Dina adored him for it. Sometimes, when Lauren saw the two of them together, laughing in the kitchen, sunlit and affectionate, the sweetness of the sight stole her breath.

The feel of her gorgeous blanket did the same, as she curled up beneath it every night, encased in soft warmth because of him.