Without Paige

Chapter Thirty-Five

Chapter Thirty-Five

I woke up the next morning to the scent of coffee and muffled laughter, but for a long minute, I didn't move. Sunlight was pouring in through the closed blinds of the window and I could hear Katy talking from the living room. I blinked and reached for my phone, but it was dead. I'd forgotten my charger at home and hadn't charged it overnight.

When I finally stood up and stretched my arms over my head, I let my eyes drift around the room. Miles' bedroom was small, but he didn't have many things in it, so it was in no way crowded. Near the foot of his bed, a keyboard was leaning against the wall on its side, gathering dust. I remembered when he'd told me he took piano lessons at Mrs. Maron's house, just down the road from my own. I hadn't thought he'd taken it seriously enough to buy an instrument.

With the door still shut, I wandered from one end of the room to the other. He had clothes thrown in one corner and a pile of textbooks covered half of his desk. It looked like exactly what I would have pictured a college dorm room to look like, an odd mix of clean and messy and a lingering scent of cologne.

A light knock sounded on the door, and Katy stepped in just as I spun on my heels. She smiled, "Morning."

"Morning," I said, wondering whether I looked suspicious standing at the edge of her brother's room. I'd definitely been snooping. "What time is it? My phone's dead."

"A little after ten." Katy leaned against the doorframe. "Almost everyone's gone already, but Naomi's still asleep."

I nodded, "What about Miles?"

"He's getting coffee. Want some?"

"Yes, please." I said, following her back into the kitchen. Miles was standing in front of the coffee machine with the pot in his hand, just about to set it down before we sauntered in.

He looked over at us and smiled, his eyes still tired as though he'd either just woken up or was in desperate need of more sleep. "Two more?"

Katy nodded her head, "Thanks."

She fell into one of the chairs around the table and I sat across from her. Miles set two steaming mugs in front of us and stepped towards the fridge to grab us cream, dumping a little in his before handing it to me. I smiled.

I watched Katy drop three spoons of sugar in her mug with wide eyes, and she looked up at me with a shrug. Miles jumped up onto the edge of the counter, leaning against the cupboard behind him. It was a wonder he hadn't spilled his drink in the movement.

"What time do you have to head home?" Katy asked me, reaching for the carton of cream and dumping it in little by little.

I warmed my hands on the side of the mug, feeling a small crack at the edge of my fingertips. "Soon. I have some homework to do today, and I'm meeting my dad for dinner."

She pursed her lips, "Dang. I wanted a girls day."

I smiled, "We can later this week."

"Definitely," She said, and then her face softened. "What's going on with your dad? Is everything still weird?"

I shrugged. I could feel Miles' eyes on the side of my face. "It's less weird. I think we're starting to get used to it, both of us."

"That's good," Katy said.

I wondered how my dad had spent the evening after my game, whether or not he'd stayed at the inn all night or had gone out for dinner on his own. It had to get boring for him to be holed up in one room all day, which was probably partly why he'd begun his search for an apartment. Just one of many reasons, I was sure.