Chapter 68: Behind Closed Doors
The low murmur of the movie still played in the background, but the real noise was in her head.
Merlina just stood there, stunned, like her brain hadn’t caught up to her eyes.
She blinked twice, almost hoping Phoebe or Megan would appear behind him, maybe even Keith, something, anything to make sense of this. But there was only Craig, standing like a flame too close to her fragile calm.
"Wh...what are you...uh. Did something happen?" she stammered, voice betraying the calm she desperately tried to summon.
Craig raised an eyebrow slowly, eyes fixed on her, like a storm watching a windowpane—waiting to see if it would break.
"No," he said, voice low, calm. Hearing his voice anchored the moment in reality, confirming he was really standing there and this wasn’t some dream her mind had conjured up. "Everything’s perfect," he added
Perfect?
Her brows drew together. What the hell was that supposed to mean?
He looked her up and down—tee, shorts, hair in a messy bun. No gloss, no liner. Just tired eyes. She suddenly felt too exposed, caught in a version of herself she didn’t mean to show him.
"So... what are you doing here?" she asked, arms folding around herself before she even realized it. Then she turned her back to him and walked deeper into the room, leaving the door open behind her.
The air between them felt too close, too tight. She caught the faint scent of his shampoo, minty, woodsy, and unmistakably his. The same one she’d smelled when he leaned over her at El Capitan, whispering something that made her feel like her heart was learning how to beat again.