She must have imagined it, or the effect had come from a shaft of sunlight piercing the window drapes. He’d made it clear, repeatedly, that he had no interest in her.
She sidled over to her suitcase, unzipped it, and grabbed a shirt and pair of jeans. While she’d been perfectly fine with traveling to Dark Falls in her sleep attire, she’d been under the presumption she’d be making the journey alone.
Escaping into the humid warmth of the bathroom, she closed the door, stripped, and stepped into the wet shower. As she washed her hair and soaped herself, she marveled at how rested she felt. She hadn’t expected to sleep the night before. She’d thought she’d lie awake all night worrying. Or obsessing over the hot stranger stretched out on the bed next to her.
Because that’s what he’d become—a stranger.
She showered in record time, dried off, and dressed in the bathroom, then squared her shoulders and ventured into the bedroom. Brett was standing by the window, looking out over the pavement below, obviously avoiding her.
He was probably tired of watching her gawk at him.
Unbearably conscious of the tall, silent man across the room, she sat on the bed and pulled on socks and shoes. He swung around when she zipped up her suitcase, as though he’d been waiting for some kind of signal she was ready to roll. Still silent, he took control of her luggage and wheeled it out to his truck.
She followed sluggishly behind, absently running her brush through her wet hair.
“Did Lucas get my keys?” she asked once he’d stowed her suitcase behind the seat and climbed behind the wheel.
“Yeah…your car’s back at your house as of a couple hours ago.”
Well, that had happened frustratingly fast. She was officially stranded in Brett’s truck now. She couldn’t even demand to take her own car. Of course, that was something she should have thought about last night.
Too late now.
The silence built as he started the truck and pulled out of the parking lot. Trying to ignore the tension boiling between them, she rolled her hair into a messy, wet knot and bound it onto the top of her head with a scrunchie she found in her purse.
According to Google Maps, it was a twelve-hour trip from her house to Dark Falls. They were an hour into that trip, but that still left eleven hours to go. Eleven silent, excruciatingly tense hours.
What fun.
The lump in her throat told her tears were brewing, along with a deep sense of loss. Long before the relationship had turned physical, things had been effortless between them. That’s what had drawn her to him. He’d been easygoing. Non-judgmental. Easy to talk to. There hadn’t been awkward silences or moments of tension when they were together.
She wanted that easiness back.
With a sigh, she stopped fiddling with her wet hair and turned to look out the window.
“What happened to your mom’s wedding dress?” Brett asked from out of the blue. He shot her a quick, indecipherable glance, then turned back to the road.
Startled, Sarah turned to stare at him. “Excuse me?”
“Your mom’s wedding dress. The one you showed me. You were dead set on wearing it at your wedding. What happened to it?”
Okay…this wasn’t a conversation she’d been expecting…
When she didn’t answer, he frowned and slid her a curious look. “That wasn’t your mother’s dress you were wearing yesterday.”
It wasn’t a question. He sounded sure.
This was awkward. She’d shown him the dress only once. Who would have guessed he’d remember what it looked like, or that he’d know yesterday’s gown was a different one?
She’d expected that realization from Langley. Langs knew how much her mom’s gown meant to her. Plus, her best friend had seen the dress multiple times. Which reminded her of Langley. Had Langs gotten her phone back? Maybe she could borrow Brett’s cell to check in with her.
“So why the other gown?” Brett asked again, apparently determined to get an answer.
And how was she supposed to answer that? Certainly not with the truth.
That she was saving it for her real wedding… saving it for when she joined her life to the man she loved. Because she didn’t want to tarnish her mom’s memory by wearing that gown to tie herself to a monster. Because Mitch didn’t deserve to see her in that dress.
Not that she could tell him any of that, not when the admission would just lead to more questions.
But ignoring him wouldn’t work either. Brett could be a bulldog sometimes. If she refused