Page 48 of Once Upon a Fall

“How did she pass?”

“A stroke,” I tell him. “It was during my senior year. She held on until the next October, but she never really recovered.”

“That must have been hard,” he says.

“It was.”

He stares at me for a beat before leaning back against the stool and stretching, arching his back as he lifts his arms overhead.

“I’m exhausted,” he says.

“Sleep bad last night?” I ask him, giving him a smirk.

“Yes,” he says. “Someone was wrapped around me like an octopus.”

I gape. I didn’t think we’d ever bring that up. I figured the non-conversation earlier would be the end of it.

“Excuse me,” I say. “I’m pretty sure it was the opposite.”

“How so?” He’s half smiling again.

“You were holding on to me like I was the last life raft on a sinking ship. And for the record—when I tried to get up, you pulled me right back in and mumbled something in my ear.”

“You didn’t seem to mind,” he says, his voice dropping low and quiet, the teasing replaced by something else that’s making my heart forget that its job is to keep me alive.

We stare at each other, and the whole room goes tight and electric, and my body wakes up to something I haven’t felt in two years—something I’d honestly started to assume was broken.

For one reckless second, I think about closing the gap. Just leaning in. Being the kind of woman who leans in.

But . . . I’m not that kind of woman.

Then Dean’s lips pull upward again, breaking the spell. The tease is back.

I’m not sure if I’m relieved or disappointed. I’m relievappointed.

I point to his mouth. “Do you ever smile?”

His brows pull down, the straight line of disapproval back.

“What do you mean? I smile all the time.”

I shake my head. “No. Like, fully smile.”

“I do.”

“No, you don’t.”

He holds out a hand. “I literally just smiled at you.”

“That half smile you do with no teeth?”

“Half smile?”

“Yes,” I say. “That’s your smile?”

He tilts his head. “I’m not sure what you’re getting at.”

“A full smile means showing teeth,” I say, and then demonstrate for him. It’s exaggerated and nothing like my real smile—more like the smile-on-demand one I used for school pictures.