Chapter 48: Walls to Paint

When I left Daniel’s study several minutes later, I found James leaning against the wall in the hallway, his phone in his hands. He slipped it into his back pocket and stepped forward to meet me in one lithe motion.

“Has she answered yet?”

Without answering, he placed his hand on the small of my back and I felt myself relax into him. This was James - warm, solid, ever unchanging.

“You all right, princess?” He tipped his head toward me as though I’d whisper a secret to him, but of course I wouldn’t. I never had, and I wasn’t about to start.

James stopped and plucked at something in my hair. “What is this? More paint?” His voice held a laugh, and the gleam in his eye suggested if I’d give the word, he’d release his laughter so it carried us both away. For a moment I let myself think how lovely that would be. How wonderful it would be to go back to the Desi I was before. The oblivious girl with no hope, no taste of what it meant to love. To be loved.