Five Ways to Fall (Ten Tiny Breaths #4)(97)

I offer him a tiny, imperceptible nod as I take off up the stairs and to the privacy of my room, to find the giant white box resting on my bed. Tossing my knapsack to the floor, I peel off the tape securing the top. A pile of amethyst-colored satin nestled among tissue paper stares back at me. Unfolding the note card on top, I read:

For this Saturday’s charity ball. I hope you haven’t gained weight.

I sigh. This event must be really important for her image for her to be going to all the trouble of getting her daughter there. I pick the box up and toss it into the corner without even pulling the dress out.

Because I’m not going.

It’s eleven by the time I’m crawling into bed when my cell phone rings. My stomach does a flip when I see Ben’s name appear.

Oh God, I’m so screwed.

I answer with his line. “You missed me that much already?”

“How’d it go with Jack?” he says over the rumble of his Volkswagen engine.

That’s why he called. He’s worried about his job. Of course he is. “Okay. You have nothing to worry about.”

“Really?” The doubt in his voice is unmistakable.

“Yeah. As long as you don’t tell everyone at work that you’re in love with me, you’ll be fine.”

He bursts out laughing. I bite my lip against the urge to ask why that’s so funny.

There’s a long moment of silence, where I expect him to say goodbye and secretly dread it.

And then I hear him ask, “Sing something to me.”

“What?”

“It’s a long drive and I’m fallin’ asleep. Sing me something before I crash.”

I try to keep the surge of warmth from exploding in my voice as I mutter, “Fine,” and drop into my beanbag chair. Setting my phone down and putting it on speaker, I pick up my guitar and begin picking at the strings haphazardly. “Any requests?”

“How about . . . ‘Achy Breaky Heart’? ‘Ice Ice Baby’?”

I roll my eyes. “None. Okay, then.” I settle in as I keep picking until a familiar tune surfaces and I find the words to “The Freshmen,” by The Verve Pipe, flowing out of my mouth.

It feels good to do this now. Not for show, not for revenge. Just for me.

And for Ben.

“You still awake?” I ask as the last note to that song fades.

“You bet, darlin’. Sing me another.” I feel my lips curl up in a warm smile as I pick another song.

By the time Ben pulls into the driveway at Wilma’s almost two hours later, my voice is getting raspy and my ass is numb. “It’s late. You’d better get some rest,” he says.

“Does it feel different now, being there?”

There’s a long pause. “I don’t know yet. I haven’t figured out how I feel about all this.” Much softer, I hear him add, “About a lot of things.”

“Yeah. I know what you mean.” I immediately bite my tongue. Was that too obvious?

“Good night, Reese.”

“Good night, Ben.” I hit the “end” button before I’m tempted to say something I’ll regret.

Chapter 30

BEN

“This feels different,” I admit to myself as I lie in bed, my head nestled within my arms, staring up at the ceiling of Elsie’s room.

And it has nothing to do with my dad being gone.

I wish Reese were lying next to me. I’m trying to tell myself that it’s because I just sat in the car for two hours listening to her sexy voice. I was grinning like an idiot the entire time.

And then, when I caught Mama in here tonight with her hands on the pillows, about to change the sheets, I hollered at her to stop. She patted my chest with a little smile and left quietly, leaving me to bury my face in Reese’s pillow to inhale the scent of strawberries and cream.

And now, here I am, thinking about kissing Reese tonight before I left her, and how much I didn’t want to leave her.

To be honest, I was expecting the novelty of Reese to wear off after Friday night; that finally getting her into my bed would have satisfied this intense urge that’s been driving me crazy for weeks. I mean, I’m a guy who likes the chase. That’s always been the case. But it’s not the case with Reese.

Quite the opposite, actually.

Now, I just want to hold onto her to keep her from getting away. And leaving her tonight, thinking about her possibly hooking up with that douchebag ex of hers, had my teeth grinding against each other. I know that part of it is her giving him the time of day after how much he hurt her. But most of it’s not, because when I think about her hooking up with anyone else, I feel the exact same tight ball forming in my stomach.

Yeah, things have definitely changed. I’m just not sure what the hell I’m supposed to do about it.

“How’d you sleep, darling?” Mama asks from her seat on the back porch, one of Grandma’s knit blankets wrapped around her as she sips at her tea.

I lean in to lay a kiss on her head. “Out like a light, as usual. You know that.” Once my body shuts down, it takes a lot to wake me up. I was teasing Reese yesterday. If she was talking or doing anything else in her sleep, I have no f**king clue.

Mama smiles. “You always were my best sleeper. Such a happy, easy baby.”

I set my cup of coffee down on the small end table—another piece made by my father; the house is like a Joshua Morris museum—and settle myself into a chair. “When’s everyone getting here?”