Page 124 of Sticks and Stones (Shadow Valley U)

CHAPTER42

STONE

“Here we are.”I park the car at the curb and glance over at Wren.

She’s pale, with dark circles under her eyes, and I fear we’re a matching pair in that regard. Neither of us have gotten out in the sunshine lately, and we’re running on a major lack of sleep. But she nods slowly and climbs out of the car, keeping her hand pressed to her ribs.

I meet her on the sidewalk, and together, we start up the walkway to the small house. The owners keep the yard neatly maintained, with cleaned-out flower boxes in the front windows and two rocking chairs on the porch.

When I pull out a key and unlock the front door, Wren’s brows furrow. She follows me without comment, until we’re standing in the empty living room. Or what I imagine will eventually be the living room.

“I’m not sure I understand…”

I take her hand.

“Waking up in the hospital to you lying next to me—” I swallow. The memory is still fresh, as the last thing I remembered prior to that was passing out with Wren’s unconscious body in my arms. And then to have her next to me in the hospital bed… I didn’t have a chance to question if she was okay. She was already waiting for me. “It meant a lot, Wren.”

She squeezes my fingers.

“Anyway. It’s about time the guys stopped eavesdropping on our loud sex, right?”

It’s supposed to make her laugh. She cracks a smile, which I settle for, and I wave my hand at the space.

“This is for us,” I say.

Silence. She seems to be processing it. Blinking and staring at me.

Then, “Wait…”

It’s been a week since I got out of the hospital. Wren was discharged the day after we were brought in, but I was kept for a few days under observation. Turns out the knife nicked my intestines, so surgery was required. It was a lot of medical terms I didn’t quite understand, but the short story of it is that I’ll recover just fine.

Except for the bruises across my stomach and the surgical scar, and the concussion from being hit in the back of the head—along with a goose egg—I’m okay. The headaches are slowly going away, and Coach said I’d be cleared to play after the holidays.

Since we got the news that Wren’s dad died… I don’t know. I guess I was combating my own guilt and trying to fend off hers. After all, it was both of our actions that led to his death.

“Stop that,” Wren murmurs. She touches my face. “Come back to me.”

I blink.

“You had that haunted look in your eye again.”

I turn my head and kiss her palm. “I just want this to be good.”

“Itisgood. It’s more than…”

I shoo her away. “Go explore.”

She shakes her head and steps back, staring at me for a long moment before going to check out the rest of the house.

I let out a slow breath. Midterms are next week and then Thanksgiving break. After that, we’ve got a quick few weeks until winter break. And I don’t know about her, but I’m ready to get out of Shadow Valley for a few weeks.

“How are we going to afford this?” Wren finally asks, returning to my side. “I mean… Don’t get me wrong, I love it. But isn’t it bigger than what we need?”

I shrug. “We need to have a space for Evan to come to dinner, and his parents might want to stay if they come to visit. Better here than the hockey house. Besides, I want a space just for us. Foryou.”

She blinks rapidly. “Oh.”

A lump forms in my throat. “Baby,” I whisper. “You’ve never had a place to make your own. You had your dad’s house, and you lived with the Mitchells. Even the hockey house, as much as I love the guys, wasn’t really ours. But this whole spaceis. I want you to experience that.”