“Most things do when I say them.”
“True.”
His mouth curves briefly, then settles. “Fire Pit worked.”
“Did it?”
“People saw you. Heard you. Saw us. Ruthanne will report back before she takes her church shoes off.”
I rub my hands against my thighs. “She got to me.”
“I know.”
“I hated that.”
“I know that too.”
“She said exactly what I was already afraid of.”
“That I’m trying to own you.”
I nod, throat tight.
He looks toward the hallway, toward August. “I ain’t Jeremy.”
“No.”
“But you don’t know that in your bones yet.”
The words are too accurate.
I stare at him.
He shrugs like he did not just reach inside me and touch a bruise. “Takes time.”
“Does it?”
“Yeah.”
“How do you know?”
His expression closes a little.
Not all the way.
Just enough to remind me that Derby has doors too.
“I know,” he says.
That is all.
For now, I let it be enough.
I look down at my hands. “I keep thinking I should feel worse about the alley.”
He goes completely still.
My face heats immediately. “That came out wrong.”