I sighed.Might as well tell the truth.“Yeah,” I admitted.“It helps calm me.”
He pushed off the frame immediately.“Calm you?You’re upset right now?”
Oh God.“Not anymore,” I said quickly.Which was true.He was back, and the panic had already faded.
“Clove,” he said, voice firm now.“What the hell is going on?”
“Nothing,” I said, trying to wave it off.
He moved to the side of the bed, looming just enough to make my stomach flip.Even irritated, he was devastating.“What.Is.Going.On?”
I groaned and threw my hand over my face.If I was going to say this out loud, I didn’t want to see his reaction.“You went to the bathroom,” I said quietly.“And I just got… anxious.I was alone in that camper, and—”
The mattress dipped.
Suddenly, Ender was in bed with me.
His arm wrapped around me, pulling me against his chest like it was instinct, like it was the only possible response.
I froze.
Then melted.
This was what I wanted.Him close.Solid.Real.
“I’ve got you,” he murmured.“You’re not alone anymore.”
My throat burned.“I know,” I whispered.“I just… sometimes my body forgets.”
He held me tighter.“Then we’ll remind it.”
I took a shaky breath.“You might have to sing when you leave the room.Maybe that will trick my mind.”
He laughed softly.“You just like my singing.”
I tilted my head back to look at him.For a second, everything else disappeared.
Then he cleared his throat and pulled back just enough to break the moment.“We should probably get dressed and see what’s for breakfast.”
I smiled.“Ice cream later?”
“Absolutely.”
He rolled out of bed and grabbed his clothes, and I watched him like a lovesick fool.
Oh boy.
Chapter Eighteen
Clove
The Dairy Bar smelled like sugar, grease, and summer.
It always had.
Even before I saw it, before the red barn roof came into view at the end of the road, I knew exactly where we were by the way my mouth watered.The Dairy Bar had that effect.
Ender pulled into the gravel lot and parked near the side, away from the drive-thru line that wrapped halfway around the building.It was early afternoon, with the sun high and warm.