KATE
I had just finished brushingmy teeth and was about to check my front door one more time to make sure it was locked, when the knob jangled. Scared that someone was breaking into my house, I did the first thing that came to mind and started barking.
The noise stopped, and I breathed a sigh of relief to see that the deadbolt was locked and that my impulse had seemed to work.
But then there was a light knock.
Bark! Bark!I summoned my best imitation of a little dog.
"Kate!" called a voice from the other side of the door. "Stop pretending to be a dog and just open the door, will you?"
It took a moment for me to recognize the voice.
Drew?
I saw a hooded figure through the door's peephole. It looked enough like Drew, but I still asked, "Who is it?"
"It's me, Drew." He pulled the gray hood down for a second, revealing his dark hair and blue eyes.
I undid the deadbolt to let him in.
"You could have at least acted like an intimidating dog with a low bark, not some yippy little thing." He grinned, shutting the door behind him.
"Sorry, I was caught off guard." I turned on my heel to walk to the couch, but he grabbed me by the hand and pulled me to him, wrapping me in an unexpected embrace.
"Sorry to scare you," he spoke into my neck. "I was going nuts at home and had to see you."
He did?
After the week we'd had, I had no idea where we stood, especially after watching him tell everyone about how having an affair with his childhood friend was the last thing he’d ever do.
And when he didn’t try to even message or call me, I figured his denial must have been true. He’d never been that great of an actor before.
But I melted against his chest despite my worries, not strong enough to push him away. I could allow myself a hug, even if it didn’t mean the same thing to him as it did to me. ”I missed seeing you, too."
So much.
Then I pulled back and glanced around to make sure the curtains were drawn closed. The last thing we needed was for someone to spot us together in my house this late on a Friday night.
Thankfully, they were all shut.
"How did you get here? Did anyone follow you?"
Drew plopped himself on the couch, patting the seat next to him. "I went for a run, and I'm pretty sure no one was able to follow me since I cut through a few parking lots and backyards on my way over here."
I didn't immediately sit by him, still not sure I could pretend like nothing had happened on Monday.
"You ran all this way?" I asked instead. "You went through people's yards?"
"Only ones without fences. Thankfully, the only time I got barked at was when I got here."
My cheeks heated. Why had I done that? Of course no one would buy that as anything close to being real.
Oh well, it wasn't like that was the most humiliating thing to happen to me this week.
When he patted the cushion on the couch again, I tentatively sat down. "What did you plan to do once you got here?"
“I don’t know. I just needed to make sure everything was okay. Are the paparazzi still bugging you?" he asked, concern etched in his eyes.