I smiled. “Thank you. That all sounds really lovely.”

The kids in the back room started shouting and we heard something heavy fall to the ground. Old Mr. Ashford gave the door a tired look. “Looks like I’ve got to be the big bad grandpa again. Sorry folks, duty calls. But please, get comfortable. Treat this place like your home, now, understand?”

I nodded.

Dean put his arm around my shoulder and nodded as well. “Sounds good. Thanks for the info,” Dean said.

Once the old man had gone behind the door, I plucked Dean’s arm off me and gave him a look.

“What?” he asked. “If we’re always stiff around each other, people are going to get suspicious. The stakes are higher now, right? Your family is here. I’m guessing they’re going to pick up on your body language a lot quicker than strangers or co-workers. So, try to act like you like it when I touch you. And maybe even initiate some things so it doesn’t look too one-sided.”

“Yeah, sorry. You’re right,” I said. The way he spoke about it made it sound like he wasn’t at all worried about feelings getting confused if we got too touchy-feely with each other. I didn’t want to admit I was still worried about it, so I decided to play it cool.

I stuck my hand out for him to take. He grinned and laced his fingers with mine. “See? That’s better,” he said.

“Mhm,” I said, trying very hard not to focus my attention on how my hand felt in his as we headed for the stairs.

It was only one more week. One more week of surviving the constant storm of conflicting feelings I felt around him. One more week of trying to trick all the people I cared about because I’d been too much of a coward to simply tell them to back off when they played matchmaker. But I wasn’t sure that was the whole story. I’d been thinking more about what made me agree to something so crazy, and I wondered if there was more. Maybe it was that I didn’t want the people who cared about me to see how much I was hurting. If I’d admitted I was swearing off men for the foreseeable future, they’d realize what Eric’s cheating had done. They’d worry about me.

I didn’t want that. I did enough worrying on my own without bringing other people into the mix.

Dean stopped at the base of the stairs. “What’s bothering you?” he asked.

“Huh? Nothing.”

Ignoring my words, he turned and took both my hands in his, meeting my eyes. “Take a few deep breaths with me. You’ll feel better. In,” he said, sucking in an exaggerated breath through his nose. “Out.” He said, blowing it out through his mouth. His breath was minty and cold.

I worked my lips to the side, considered pulling away, and then finally gave in. I joined him on his next round of breaths. After three rounds, I admittedly felt much better.