Page 83 of The Embers That Remain

And me sitting here like I belonged.

When dinner ended, Jace pushed away from the table. “I’m going to work on my English assignment.”

Cali raised a fist in triumph. “That’s what I like to hear.”

Jace rolled his eyes before grabbing his plate and placing it in the sink. A few seconds later, he disappeared.

Jimmy pushed his chair back. “My shows are on.”

“Which ones?” she asked.

He nodded toward the living room. “I’ll know ’em when I see ’em.” He shuffled away.

Cali began gathering the dishes, and I reached for the cup she was carrying.

“I’ll help. You worked all day.”

“So did you.”

I looked down at my denim, covered in dirt and sawdust. “Not the same.”

“No, yours probably involved less screaming.”

“Maybe.”

That earned another small smile.

I picked up the utensils. “You should go get a shower or, better yet, a bath.”

She glanced over. “Are you telling me I smell?”

“No.”

“You hesitated.”

“I was choosing my words.”

“Smart.”

“I was going to say you look exhausted.”

Her expression softened. For a second, neither of us moved. Then she busied herself with another dish.

“You should shower too.”

I looked down. “Because I smell?”

“Because you look like you’ve wrestled in the dirt.”

“I’ll shower after you stop pretending you aren’t exhausted,” I said as I took the plates from her hands.

Her mouth fell open as I strode away toward the kitchen. Jace upstairs. Jimmy in the living room. Cali right there. And me, standing right in the middle of it. Like this was somewhere I was supposed to be. Like someone would actually notice if I wasn’t there. Like somehow, without realizing it, I’d stopped thinking of this place as somewhere I was just staying. And the scariest part was that I didn’t want to leave.

Forty

Cali

The sound of the shower sent my thoughts somewhere they had absolutely no business going. The pipes rattled softly inside the walls. And despite being a grown woman with an aging grandfather, a teenage son, a mountain of bills, and roughly a thousand real problems, all I could think about was the fact that Lane was currently shirtless down the hall.