Coming Home(43)

His pulse quickened when he saw her name next to the notification, and he eagerly opened the text.

I’ll be at The Rabbit Hole tonight. You should come out if you’re not busy.

He stared at her message for a moment before he cleared the screen and slid the phone back in his pocket.

And then he rested his head back on the creeper, throwing his forearm over his eyes.

He wasn’t going to go, of course. That would be a horrible idea.

But God, it was so f*cking tempting.

She had been so forgiving of the rude way he’d gotten off the phone the last time they had spoken. The second he’d hung up on her that night, he felt like kicking himself. It was such a stupid move; he should have just made something up, some insignificant answer to her question, and it would have been fine. But she had caught him off guard, and instead he panicked and acted like a complete dick.

Again.

And yet the next morning, she sent him a text. Five simple words, but it made his chest feel like hundreds of little bubbles were popping inside.

Have a good day today.

He spent the rest of the day thinking about her, and that night he’d broken his rule and initiated contact with her, sending her a quick text.

Hope you successfully fended off the zombies today. Good night.

She had responded with an LOL and a smiley face, and Danny ended up leaving his phone in the kitchen for the remainder of the night so he wouldn’t be tempted to contact her again.

The following day, just before lunch, he’d gotten another text from her.

Hope your day is going well. No cursing at cars today. SWEAR JAR!

He had laughed out lout at that, drawing confused looks from the customers sitting in the waiting area. And that night he’d ignored his self-imposed rule again, sending her a message that wished her a good night and reminded her to turn on her night-light.

They’d been going back and forth like that for the past four days, and he’d managed to convince himself that it was acceptable because it was only texting. It wasn’t like they were talking on the phone, or meeting up, or hooking up.

He was still completely fine.

Danny dropped his forearm from his eyes and stared up at the high ceiling of the garage. In his moments of clarity, however, he realized how stupid it was to be doing this with her. Because every text only reinforced how much he liked her. She was sarcastic and quick-witted, but also incredibly sweet and considerate. Not to mention forgiving. On more than one occasion, she seemed to completely overlook the fact that he had f*cked up.

And sometimes, for a split second, it made him think that maybe she might forgive him his biggest one; that there was a chance she wouldn’t run from him if she knew the truth.

But that line of thinking was idiotic, not to mention dangerous. He shouldn’t be entertaining that remote possibility. He shouldn’t even be focusing on the things he liked about her; he wasn’t doing himself any favors in that regard.

And he absolutely, one hundred percent, should not be looking for excuses to see her again.

Yet even as that thought crossed his mind, he was running through potential reasons to make an appearance at The Rabbit Hole. Technically, he wouldn’t be breaking any of his rules if he went; she was the one who asked him to go, and he had already determined that if she were to initiate contact, he would follow through.

As if that made him any less culpable.

No. Fuck it. You’re not going.

“What’s going on over there, deep thinker?”

Danny turned his head to see Jake leaning against the bumper of a car, elbow deep in a bag of Lay’s.