It was conflicting when his arms wrapped around her, because Patty was still angry, and hurt and upset. She knew that she should pull away from him and tell him that this didn't mean things were okay, it didn't mean that they were okay, and yet she felt herself leaning into him. Because it was Derek. And it felt right to be there with him.
Tears started to fall more freely as she wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face into his shoulder, uncaring of how cold he was in the aftermath of his travels in the pouring rain. She breathed him in, having missed the faint and simplistic scent of his deodorant and body wash, and when he said it again, a second time, the tension left Patty's body and she all but melted into him, her hold around him tightening and her fingers digging into his shirt as if afraid he was going to pull away. "I love you too," she admitted, and she felt guilty when the words left her because she had promised herself that she wouldn't do that again. But it felt too good. All of this felt too good and she was just waiting for the other shoe to drop.
But nothing was happening. It was just silence in her living room as he held her, and after a while Patty took in a shuttering breath before moving her arm from around him to lift a hand and wipe her eyes. "Come on." She croaked, looking up at him. Her eyes lingered for a second too long, and she maintained the close proximity for a moment more than necessary before she began to tug away. "You're soaked, I think I have one of your gym bags that you left here, I washed the clothes for you. I was going to bring it over but that was before - it's upstairs, let's get you dry. You're freezing."