The Dream Before the Dark ✓

26 | When the Sun Goes Down

"AND YOU'RE SURE YOU DON'T WANT ME TO COME WITH YOU?" Robert asked as they were stepping out her front door.

Jen gave his hand a consoling squeeze. "You know this wouldn't be the best time for you to meet my parents."

He let out a small, defeated sigh, looking mildly disappointed. "I know," he conceded. "And I get it. I just...I want to see where you're from, that's all."

The two of them had spent the past couple of hours lounging on her couch, but Jen's dad was due to pick her up in five minutes so that she could go with her parents to the county fair tonight. Since it was held only half an hour away from Woods Crossing and was by far the most exciting thing that ever happened to that gloomy town, it was a longstanding family tradition for the three of them to go.

She felt guilty for not wanting to bring her boyfriend with her. Ever since the whole dinner fiasco last weekend, Jen had noticed him becoming increasingly bothered with how separate they kept their relationship from every other aspect of their lives. She could understand why he didn't want any more surprises being thrown at them. She liked feeling safe, like there was always a safety net under her in case something came along and swept her off her feet, and she could barely imagine what his reaction might be if he found out that she had been hiding a messy history with their boss from him.

She was buying herself time to figure out how to explain all of that, but for the immediate moment, she was deflecting by saying that him showing up unannounced with her when her dad came to pick her up was a terrible idea. Though she was fully aware it was a very temporary fix to a problem that wasn't going to go away any time soon, it was a terrible idea regardless.

"I'm sorry," she said, and she truly was – just not enough to sacrifice her ability to keep him isolated from all of her issues just yet.

She tried to convince herself that she wasn't being entirely selfish, that it was for his sake as well as her own. The fact that their relationship was starting not to feel brand new anymore didn't mean that they could stop being vigilant—she hadn't come this far just for news about their relationship to somehow find its way back to work after they'd managed a whole month of secrecy. Even so, it was relieving to know that this arrangement – the part of it where they hid their relationship from everyone else – had an expiration date, even if she would be left with no excuse at that point not to tell him all about Nora.

Jen placed a soft kiss on his cheek. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Be safe," he hummed, reluctant to let go of her hand. "And have fun."

For him, it sounded lackluster, and she felt the corners of her lips tilt down into a frown. Her eyes examined his, searching and rummaging for why he was upset, and she was slightly unnerved when she observed that they didn't look very upset at all. Just a little distant, which was somehow worse.

She tried to shake off the tension by being playful and giving him another kiss, this time on the lips. "I assure you it'd be more fun if you were there," she murmured in assurance. "I'm just trying to stick to the plan. We made it this far—let's carry it through to the end."

She slipped her hand out of his and brushed past him to go meet her dad, who liked to park in a public lot around the block whenever he came into town. It wasn't that Jen at all wanted to be in a rush to leave Robert, but she was nervous that if she dawdled too much, her father might come looking for her and see that she wasn't alone.

As she expected, his truck was already parked in the lot once she got there. She hurried over, realizing once she was closer to the car that her mother was already with him, sitting in the passenger seat. This surprised Jen—Mom wasn't much of a fan of car rides, so she'd assumed they'd be picking her up from the house after Dad retrieved Jen.