Chapter 54

They ate quietly for a few minutes until Chandler felt like a complete asshole. It wasn’t her fault, not really. Elena didn’t have to try to understand why he and his stepmother had the relationship they did, and how that bled into his relationships with his father and brother. He opened his mouth to apologize, but Elena spoke first.

“I don’t like thinking too hard about things that upset me too, so I understand.” She told him,

This didn’t feel like the time to say anything, so he held her gaze across the table and waited. Elena twirled some pasta on her fork and took another bite. When she was done chewing, she set the fork down. “I’m not angry with you, and I don’t know exactly why I want to figure you out as you put it. I guess I just… I want to know you… And understand you… That’s all.”

Even though her words touched him, her face was so calm when she said it that he laughed.

“That’s funny?” she asked.

“Not really,” he admitted, then he added even th