Different from earlier but still put together and polished. Her hair was down this time, falling over her shoulders. Dress simple, fitted, not doing too much but still enough to remind me exactly who I was dealing with. She wanted me to look. She wanted to remind me what I gave up. She stepped out, closed the door behind her, and looked up at the house like she was taking it in for the first time.
I walked down the steps toward her.
“You okay?” I asked.
She glanced at me, then gave a small nod.
“Yeah.”
“Where’s the dog?”
She glanced at me sideways. “Hartland’s watching him.”
That little attitude was still there but at least she wasn’t completely checked out.
“Come on,” I said, stepping aside so she could walk in first.
I didn’t cut corners tonight. Table set properly, candles lit, but nothing too over the top. I saw her take it all in as she stepped inside.
“You did all this?” she asked, glancing at the table.
“Yeah.”
“For me?”
“Yeah.”
She hummed lightly at that but didn’t say anything else making it clear she wasn’t about to make this easy for me.
Fair.
I ushered her to her seat then took my seat across from her.
For a second, neither of us spoke. I reached for the bottle of wine, pouring her a glass first before filling mine. She looked at me for a second, then picked up her glass, taking a small sip before setting it down again.
“I meant what I said earlier,” I started. “About reimbursing you. I’ll have it handled by tomorrow.”
She waved that off lightly. “I said no.”
“Since when do you tell me what to do, Rabbit?” I teased.
She didn’t even pretend to be amused. “Look man, that’s business. I ain’t come here for that.”
I nodded once.
“I don’t like how things been between us this week—” I started.
She let out a small breath. “But you created that.”
“I know.”
“You put me out for no reason after you stopped talking to me! You expect me to come crawling back or something?”
“No—”
“Good, ‘cause it’ll never happen. I’m not gonna stand being treated this way. You asked for this so deal with it. It ain’t fun when the rabbit got the gun, is it?”
“Aurora,” I said calmly. “I’m sorry, okay? I’m sorry I pushed you away, but I had my reasons. I’ll do anything you want to make this right, Rabbit. Anything. Tell me what you need.”
