Deirdre raised her head and looked at him apathetically as though Brendan was just some random guy on the street. She would not even spare him anything more than that.

"Let me go to sleep, Brendan. I'm tired."

"Dee…" Brendan took a deep breath. "Please let me in. Just sleep, okay? In the meantime, I'll explain everything to you."

Deirdre turned away from him and pulled the door a little more ajar. Brendan's eyes brightened up before Deirdre declared, "I'm going to count to three before I slam the door shut, so take your hand away. If the door catches your hand in between, though, it's not my fault."

As it turned out, she had only opened the door a little wider so he could withdraw his hand.

"Three.

"Two.

"One."

Deirdre did exactly as she said she would—she swung the door back to its frame.

But the door stopped shy from being shut completely. Something was blocking it—and then she heard a soft gasp escaping him.

Deirdre froze. Did he just… let his hand stay there? Was he cra