Chapter 5: That's the Act

It rained all the way home, and neither of us said a word.

Audrey went upstairs.

I took a blanket from the hall closet and went to the living room sofa.

I told myself it was to give her space.

I lay on the cushions in the dark and listened to the rain on the porch roof.

*Hours remaining: twenty-six.*

I did not sleep.

At twelve-thirty I heard the stairs creak.

Bare feet crossed the floor, and stopped beside the sofa.

"Ethan."

"Mm."

"You're not asleep."

"No."

"Why are you down here?"

"I thought you'd want the bed to yourself."

"I haven't wanted that in four months," Audrey said.

It was the closest she had come to saying what had gone wrong between us.

She stood there in an old T-shirt of mine, one I had not seen in a year, with her hair loose and her arms crossed over her chest.

She was shivering.

"Come upstairs," she said.

"Audrey."

"Come upstairs, please."

I sat up.

My blanket slid to the floor, and the rain came down harder on the roof.

I had meant to say something careful.

Instead I said, "Why?"

She let her arms fall.

"Because I don't want you down here."

She crossed the space between us and put her hand against the side of my face.

Her palm was warm.

I had waited three years for that hand to touch me without a reason.

"I don't understand you," she said.

"You don't have to."

"Stop saying that."

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