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She chewed on her thumb nail, continuing to stare out the window.
“Fine,” I said, cranking up the engine.
The short drive back was filled with tense silence; my attempts to engage her in conversation got no response. When we arrived back at her parents’ house, I killed the engine and waited for her to get out. Since her accident, Ginger had been more distant than before. Something I didn’t even think was possible. Tonight, I thought there was a crack in the wall, but how quickly it had been reinforced.
“I wish you’d tell me what I did back there that made this happen, so I’d know to avoid a repeat performance.”
She ran her hands through her short hair before letting out a forced exhale. “It’s not you, Malcolm, not really.”
“Not really? What the hell does that mean?”
“It’s me. I’m working through some…issues.”
“What issues?”
“Nothing that concerns you,” she snapped.
My hands tightened on the steering wheel for a moment as I digested her statement. There were so many things I wanted to say in response to her, but the only thing I could do is shake my head and laugh quietly to myself. I knew if we continued down this path, it would lead to an argument I didn’t want to have.
“All right,” I said, turning my truck on.
Ginger unbuckled her seatbelt, her hand rested on the door handle. With another deep breath, she looked over at me. “I never thanked you.”
“For what?”
“For staying at the hospital with me.”
“It’s what you do when you’re concerned about a person.” I couldn’t keep the sarcastic bite out of my tone.
Color crept into her cheeks, and she hung
her head at her words being thrown back at her.
“Malcolm, I didn’t mean it like that.”
“How exactly did you mean it then, Calida? Am I not to be concerned about you in general or not concerned when I see you’re obviously upset over something? Whatever I said or did upset you, and that is never my goal. But instead of you talking to me, you wanna cop an attitude and give me the silent treatment. How does that help either one of us?”
She opened her mouth to speak but said nothing. The light came on when she opened the door. She looked so fragile, so lost.
“Upsetting you isn’t mine either,” she replied quietly before exiting my truck.
I watched her walk up the drive and enter the house without giving a single look back. Fuck! That woman was going to drive me insane.
The drive home allowed me time to think, to try and uncover the mystery behind her change. Things were feeling more like a relationship at the tail-end of its life cycle instead of the beginning. Hell, she’d been avoiding me since she left the hospital. I still didn’t buy her excuse that she didn’t know why she blacked out, but she shut down any and all attempts to talk about it.
When Sandy had invited me to dinner, I’d thought about declining. If Ginger didn’t want to see me, I didn’t want to force her. But, at the same time, she couldn’t keep hiding. For the longest time, we all took on the stance of not pushing her. By doing that, we’d all enabled her to not move forward, allowing her to remain complacent in the shell of a life she was leading. All I wanted was for her to let me in, to talk to me so we could figure things out together. I didn’t think that was too much to ask, but my mole hill was seemingly a mountain to her.
Chapter 16
Calida
Dad loaded my bag into the back of my car and shut the door. “Are you sure you’re ready to be in that big ol’ empty house by yourself?”
I smiled at Shawn as I finished buckling him in. “Yes, Daddy. I told you I’m fine. Besides, I’m not alone. I have the best companion right here.” Shawn laughed as I tickled his belly.
“Still, what if something happens? What if you blackout again? We still don’t even know why you did.”
“The doctors didn’t find anything wrong. I’m fine. I promise. We’ll both be fine, and besides, Mom already gave me contact demands.”
