I ran a hand over the words. The paint was completely dry. It was probably done hours ago. I heard the opening and closing of the truck doors. Ty came up beside me a moment later, whistling low.
“Damn, this looks like it’s going to take forever to clean.”
I turned to him, brows pulling together. “Do you have any idea who would do this?”
Ty grimaced, running a hand through his tight curls. He sighed. “Look, there’s this girl,” he started.
I groaned.
“Yeah, I know, okay? She’s not exactly my biggest fan at the moment, but I made it clear I wasn’t looking for anything serious. Apparently, she didn’t believe me.”
I shot him a hard glare. “Are you sure she would do something like this?”
He glanced at the words again, his expression souring. “She’s been loving calling me a man whore. Like, screaming it at the top of her lungs, actually.”
“Shit, Ty.” I grumbled several obscenities under my breath.
Ty shrugged and looked over his shoulder. “You can go inside, Wren. We’ll clean this mess up. My bad.”
My eyes sought her out and froze. Her face was the palest I’d ever seen it, her lips pressed so tight together almost all the blood had leached from them. Her hands were pressed against her chest, and they were shaking.
“Wren?” I said her name in concern, and her eyes tore from the words on the garage door and latched onto mine. There was panic in them. And fear. “Are you all right?”
She blinked a few times, and I thought she was going to cry. I glanced between her and the words and wondered why they had such an effect on her.
“Ty upset one of his temporary girlfriends,” I explained. “Nothing to be worried about.” I nodded toward the front door. “Go ahead inside and we’ll have this cleaned off soon.”
She didn’t move as she stared at me with those wide eyes. Then, she nodded. As if in a trance, she turned and trudged inside the house.
An uneasy feeling stirred in my gut, and I almost went after her. I was about to take a step when Ty’s hand gripped my shoulder.
“You good, bro?” His head tilted to the side, a knowing look in his eye. He glanced at where Wren had disappeared into the house and then back at me. “Is everything okay between you two?”
I frowned. “We aren’t—”
Ty squeezed my shoulder. “I know. You keep saying that you aren’t anything but friends, and if you still want to go by the party line, I won’t argue with you.” He held a hand up in surrender. “But Atty, I’ve never seen you like this before. You’re all broody and quiet and keep to yourself, but with her…she lights you up.”
My chest constricted, squeezing around my racing heart.
“I barely know her,” I mumbled.
Ty rolled his eyes. “Then get to know her. She seems to hold her secrets tight.” He met my gaze, raising a brow. “Maybe you should change that.”
A storm raged inside me. Emotions swirled and tangled together, causing so much confusion. Part of me was scared. Terrified. Wren deserved better than me. I had nothing to offer her. I hadn’t even told her everything about my past. Would she look at me the same if she knew the truth?
Ty clapped me on the back. “I’ll clean this mess up. You go talk to Wren. I think y’all have stuff to work out.”
He almost pushed me forward. My heavy feet dragged along the pavement, toward the house. My heart thudded, my stomach twisting. I didn’t know what was about to happen, but I had a feeling that everything was about to change.
When I opened the front door, sizzling met my ears as the smell of cooking food wafted over me. I frowned and closed the front door quietly. Wren stood in the kitchen, her back to me as she shifted something in a frying pan on the stove.
Curious, I walked toward her and over the island. She had her hair pulled up in a messy knot on the top of her head, the new earbuds I’d given her in her ears. Well, she didn’t know they were new. I’d told her they were my old pair, and I had no use for them. It was the only way I could get her to take them.
She had taken to cleaning the main house sometimes, even though I told her she didn’t need to. I think it made her feel useful. She’d often sing to herself as she cleaned, and I thought she’d like being able to listen to music as she cleaned. Not that I minded the singing.
She had no idea I stood behind her, watching. Her head hung low, engrossed in her cooking. A large pot of water boiled on the back burner and a box of spaghetti sat on the counter. What looked like ground beef browned in the frying pan.
A smile tugged on my lip as she worked. She was making spaghetti. I had no idea why she was making food, but I loved spaghetti. It was one of the few things I could make as a kid, and I’d pretty much perfected the art of pasta with meat sauce.