“Thank you,” I tell her, feeling the happiness of a shared interest, but also realizing the ice has been broken and the questions she has for me are probably similar to the ones I have for her. The questions beg to slip through and bring me back to the train of thought I was on moments ago.
It’s too easy to just be friendly, to sit on the surface of the world we live in and pretend that everything is just fine.
“So where are you from?” Addison asks me, taking another sip, her lips already staining from the wine, and then she reaches for the throw blanket. I finally take a seat on the armchair I’ve been leaning against. The leather groans as I sink down in it and sit cross-legged to be comfortable.
“Close to here,” I tell her and ignore how my heart beats harder, my fingers tracing along my ankle to keep them busy while I carefully avoid details. I can’t look her in the eyes as I wonder if she knows where I come from and who my family is. My throat dries but before it can cause my words to crack, I quickly ask her, “What about you?”
Glancing at her, I can feel the anxiety course harder in my veins, but her expression stays casual and easy. I get the impression that Addison is more laidback than I am. Harder to shake. Stronger in a lot of ways. And for some reason, that thought weighs against my chest heavily as she answers.
“I grew up around here, but left and traveled for the past, like five years, almost six years now?” Her voice is light as she continues. “I’ve lived all over.”
“That’s amazing,” I say with wonder. I’ve never left home. I’ve never ventured outside of the parameters I was given.
“Did you live on your own?”
Addison nods with a sly grin and then clucks her tongue. “I was kind of running away at first,” she says, and her voice is lower as she shrugs and then takes a heavy gulp of wine. She licks her lower lip and stares at the glass as she says, “It was too hard to stay.” She peeks up at me and her piercing green eyes stay with mine as she says, “It was far too easy to just keep going, you know? Rather than staying still and having to deal with it all.”
The jealousy I felt only moments ago instantly turns to compassion. Her tone is too raw, too open, and honest not to feel the pain of her confession.
“Yeah, I get that,” I tell her and settle deeper into the seat. “I really do.”
Time passes quietly as I slowly pick through the questions, one that won’t open up a raw wound unless she cares to go there herself. “What brought you back?” I ask.
“Daniel.” She rolls her eyes as she says his name, but she can’t hide how her smile grows, how her cheeks flush and she pulls her legs into herself as if his name’s only home is on her lips. “We bumped into each other a few towns over and he brought me back.”
My smile matches hers as she continues her story. “We grew up together—kind of. I kind of grew up with him and his brothers I guess. It’s a complicated story,” she says then waves me off, wine glass in her hand, although she takes a long minute before sipping it again, staring past me at the mantel.
“This one is delicious,” she says before finishing it off.
“I love the dark reds.” My statement is spoken as absently as she spoke hers.
“They’re the best,” she says wide-eyed and then reaches for the bottle for another glass.
“You two getting along all right?” Daniel’s voice carries through the den before he’s even taken a step into the room.
My skin pricks with unease, being brought back to reality when I’d been slipping into a hiding place of Addison’s story. I keep my smile plastered on my face as he glances between the two of us.
I wonder if he thinks I’d tell her why I’m here and what happened. That I’d warn her away from Daniel and expose that he knew. That I’d beg her to help me and frighten her.
My heart feels like it collapses in on itself as the two of them go back and forth in lighthearted banter although a touch of tension is obvious.
“Always hovering,” Addison says although there’s a quiet reverence there that Daniel doesn’t seem to grasp. He sighs and runs his hand down the back of his head before saying, “I just came to see if you two needed anything.”
Addison playfully slaps his arm as he stops behind the sofa where she’s sitting. “Liar. You came to eavesdrop.”
“You got me,” he says and lets her shoo him away with a simple, “Get out,” but not without a kiss.