She stared at her cast, at her father; she looked anywhere but at me. It was because it was Landstuhl and the hell in Vitale’s office, I convinced myself. Yet it hurt anyway.
Michael couldn’t seem to stand it any longer. “How did you two meet?”
“I’m a friend of Shawn Dunn’s,” I said, “the man who runs Osterhägen Beverage.” It wasn’t technically a lie, and I didn’t want to lie to her father.
“Oh, Katie’s new boss,” he said. “That explains why I haven’t heard about you.”
“Can you give us a minute?” she said tightly.
For a moment, it seemed like the answer would be no. But he hesitantly rose, strode toward the door, and cast a warning look at me before exiting.
“I didn’t know what to tell him,” she said, when the door was shut.
“About what happened?”Or about us?
When she nodded, I stepped up to the side of her bed, my mind exhausted, my knee aching, and my back full of fiery pain the painkillers barely touched. Every second I remained in this room and couldn’t touch her made things worse between us. She was slipping farther away.
“So, what did you say?”
“That I was stupid and worked for some dangerous people. I thought I had escaped, but they found me. I said I got lucky. The authorities came to arrest them before it got really bad.”
“Did he believe it?”
“I think so.” Her empty gaze went up to mine. “I’m a good liar.”
It was eerie seeing her like this, her whole personality stripped away. Empty. Lifeless. I couldn’t tolerate this space between us anymore. Her left hand was icy in mine, and it was alarming.
“Olivia, are you okay?”
She stared at me, and her voice was low and flat. “I don’t really feel anything.”
I slipped my hands through her soft hair, leaning down to kiss her, to bring her back to life.
“No, don’t,” she said, her good hand flattening against my chest to push me back. “Maybe I don’twantto feel anything.”
It was like I’d just hit a brick wall while running sixty miles an hour. “What? You don’t mean that.”
“I do.”
I held my breath, waiting for the tell in her eyes when she was lying, but it wouldn’t fucking come. “So, where does that put us?”
“I don’t know.”
After what we’d just gone through together? If she didn’t want to feel anything... how could she feel anything for me? Anger rose in my chest. This woman was a fighter. It wasn’t in her nature to give up. How could she sit there, silent and motionless, and give up on me?
“I have to go Stateside,” I announced finally. “I need to be debriefed at Langley.”
She sucked in a deep breath. “How long?”
“A week, maybe longer. Where are you going after you’re released? Back to Munich?”
“I don’t know. My father wants me to come home with him.”
“Detroit.”
She nodded. “I might go for a little while. I can’t work while I’m on pain medication.”
I straightened, using all my remaining strength not to push. The urge to kiss her, to force her to feel something, was strong, but I resisted. She’d been through a lot. I could let her pretend these feelings didn’t exist a little longer.
