The Unsent Appeal novel · Chapter 8 of 24

Chapter 8: The Bare Room

I went on Saturday, in spite of my mother's text.

I didn't answer it.

I took the bus and walked up the driveway at nine, and he opened the door before I knocked.

He had shaved, and he looked as if he hadn't slept.

"You came," Elliott said.

"You told me to bring nothing."

"I did."

"I brought nothing."

"Rose." He stood in the doorway and didn't move aside. "If you're here because you think you owe me, turn around now."

"I'm here because I haven't stopped thinking about your mouth for five days."

His breath shook.

"That's not an apology," he said.

"No."

"Good."

He stepped back, and I walked in.

He took me up the stairs, not down.

At the end of the hall was my old bedroom.

It was empty. The bed, the desk and the posters were gone, and sun came across a bare wooden floor.

In the middle of it lay a green sleeping bag, unzipped and spread flat.

I knew it. I'd had it since I was eleven.

"It was in the second box," Elliott said, from behind me. "I didn't know what else to do with it."

"You put my sleeping bag on my floor."

"I put it there Thursday." He swallowed. "I told myself it was for you to sit on."

I turned around.

"Sit with me," I said.

He lowered himself to the floor slowly, left leg out straight, and I knelt in front of him.

I took his face in my hands.

"Is your leg all right?"

"It's fine."

"Tell me if it isn't."

"Rose."

"I'm leading," I said. "Stay right there."

"I'm not going anywhere."

I kissed him.

He made a low sound against my mouth and pulled me into his lap.

His hands went to my back and held on.

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