Where We Meet Again, стр. 67
I’ve lain awake at night hoping he’s safe. He shared a bit about his past, his life with Steph, and it burns me knowing I hurt him once again when he’s already suffered a lifetime of hurt.
As we near three weeks without him, I get angry. Mostly because he’s letting Evelyn down.
She started physical therapy for her hips, which is a struggle to work around. Nerve damage and numbness leaves us with an uncertainty that we don’t know if it will be permanent. Not feeling like her old self and not knowing if she ever will again or if this is her new reality wears on her. Add that to the emotional trauma from the accident and Law’s disappearance, and I worry even more about her wellbeing.
Any attempts I make talking to her or cheering her up fail miserably.
The light in all of this is that tomorrow she’s going back to school for the first time since winter break, and I hope getting out of the house and seeing her friends puts a smile back on her face.
A storm cloud parks over our house. Bad moods run rampant. Even Kiersten shows up after picking up some groceries, cursing.
“I am swearing off men. Done. Never again. I’d rather be celibate for the rest of my life.”
“You and me both, sister,” I grumble and move a pork roast from the grocery sack to the freezer. When I turn around, she cocks an eyebrow at me. “What?”
“You’ve sort of already done that. This is about me. And my uncontrollable love of co—Ow!ˮ The pyramid of cans she juggles slips, and one hit her square in the toe. She drops to her ass and cradles it.
“That’s why we don’t talk like a sailor when children are in the house.” Goodness, Evelyn is right down the hall.
“I hate you. I’m done. Put your own groceries away and give me some ice.”
I stick out my tongue. “You love me and you’re just pissy because you’re sex deprived.” I hand her a bag of frozen peas.
She leans in my direction and hisses. “No, I’m pissy because Rhett eats my pussy like a god and suddenly decided he doesn’t want to anymore!”
I suck in a breath so hard my saliva shoots down my windpipe. “Jesus,” I croak, choking on my spit. “Oh, my god, shut up!”
“I know,” she responds miserably. “This is what happens to me. I find a guy, we have the most amazing, mind-blowing sex, and then they disappear. I’m not that crazy, am I?” She must see the look on my face, because she adds, “Don’t answer that. Rhetorical question.”
“I think the problem is you find all sex mind-blowingly-amazing and get attached.”
She shrugs. “What can I say?”
I stuff what feels like eighteen bags of Doritos in my cabinet when a spontaneous idea comes to me. I feel it so strongly in my gut that my hand freezes mid-air, clutching the bag so hard I’m sure it will pop. “Hey, so… crazy idea.” Instead of putting it away, I drop the chips to the counter.
“What’s that?” Kiersten stops inspecting her toe to look up. I’m a shit actress, but I try my best to be nonchalant.
“Maybe you should go on a date with Nathan.”
Her eyebrows crease a little and her mouth twists to the side. She pulls the corners down, then gives a quick shrug. “Yeah, maybe. He’s cute.”
“Really? Want me to nudge him in your direction?”
She grins and sticks out her hand. “Nah. I like to play with my mouse before I eat it.”
Of course she does. Reaching down, I grip her hand and help her up, taking the peas from her and putting them back in the freezer.
“Now that the groceries are put away, whatchya making for dinner?”
I roll my eyes. “Seriously, if you don’t get in touch with Nathan, I’m doing it for you. You’d be so less annoying if you were somebody’s girlfriend. At least you could annoy them instead of me.”
Kiersten opens her mouth to defend herself, but a knock sounds at the door. “Is that who I think it is?”
The same thought crosses my mind seeing as she’s here, Nathan and I still aren’t exactly BFF’s again, and the only other person who’d show up unannounced would be Law. Immediately, my earlier ire resurfaces. “It sure as hell better not be.”
A buzzing begins in my ears, and my hands curls into fists. I don’t want to be angry with him. We’ve had enough arguments to last a lifetime. It’s just if I have to pick an emotion to show him anger is the safest. If he wants nothing to do with me, then I don’t want to show him I care. That I’ve been worried about his disappearance. Vulnerability is a weapon, and I’m determined not to let him hurt me again.
I check the peephole, in control enough not to go pissed-off-momma-bear on some unsuspecting girl scouts, and inhale sharply at what I see.
A hand braced on either side of the doorway, Law stands on my porch with his head hanging between his arms. As if he senses me watching him, he looks up. Anguish scores through me at the raw, red rims of his eyes and the purple circles beneath them.
“Open the damn door, Cami.” His voice pleads raggedly and barely controlled.
I lower from my tip toes and flip the locks. Footsteps pad down the hall, and the unmistakable clunk of Evelyn’s crutches follows, but I don’t look in that direction. My only focus is getting that door open before my heart squeezes so tightly that it stops.
The door flies open, and a blast of icy air hits me.
Law’s hands drops from the wood frame. He takes a step forward. That is all he gets before Evelyn bursts past at a speed that isn’t