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I had been so certain we’d left her behind for good when we’d moved away from Waterford. She’d ruined everything when I’d looked up and seen her standing inside the nightclub just on the other side of the counter. These last few months here had been nice; I hadn’t even cared about how quickly I’d gone broke again.
Reese made it all okay.
Except how could things really be okay when my past was still trying to haunt us?
And that made me not okay. Not at all.
The apartment was quiet when I walked in. Instant fear covered me. Shit. Had Reese left and taken her annoying cousin with her?
I hurried down the hall to our room and nearly sagged against the doorframe in relief when I found her sitting cross-legged on our bed, her laptop on the mattress in front of her as she rested her elbows on the covers and typed away, probably working on that paper she kept stressing over.
When she noticed me, she glanced up and started to brighten, until I detected a hesitation in her expression. “Hey. Did you find it?”
“Yep.” I held up the wallet to show it off. “Under the counter at work, right where I thought I left it.”
She smiled sadly, watching me toss the billfold on top of our dresser next to her nearly empty bottle of sweet pea body spray. “Thank goodness. It would’ve been a pain in the ass to have to replace everything in there.”
I nodded, and an awkward silence followed. Before last Thursday, I would’ve gone to her and stretched out on the bed beside her, hoping she’d give me a back rub…or a front rub. Or I’d at least have gone to her to kiss her hair before letting her get back to her homework. But today, I shifted uncomfortably, not feeling as if I had the right and yet itching to just touch her for my own sanity.
Ever since Patricia had shown up, her clothes stuffed full of padding to make her look pregnant as she claimed the baby was mine, I’d been seriously fucked up in the head. She must’ve assumed I hadn’t told Reese the truth by now and that Reese still believed I really had slept with her back in September. And that freaked me out, because... What if it made Reese question everything she thought she knew? What if she wondered whether I really had done shit with Patricia after all? I didn’t want her to ever question that, and it killed me to even think she might. There was no way I could actually talk about it with her either: I was too afraid to see doubt and loss of faith in her eyes.
The whole thing messed with everything we’d worked so hard to build together, and I didn’t know how to dig myself out of this rut I was creating between us.
Scratching the back of my neck and not sure what to say, I glanced down the hall and frowned. “Eva around?” She was being unusually quiet if she was.
“Yeah, I think she’s in the kitchen making a snack.”
My eyebrows shot up. “Really? I wonder if she’s fixing anything good.”
Reese grinned affectionately. “Good luck getting her to share any of her food with you. I swear, preggo E is like a starving dog at its food bowl. She’ll likely snarl and bite your fingers off if you go anywhere near the kitchen right now.”
I pressed a hand to my heart. “Ah, but you know me, Sweet Pea.” With a wink, I backed out of the doorway. “If there’s food around, I must try to steal it.”
She rolled her eyes. “Well, good luck with that. Feel free to come to me to kiss your boo-boos all better when she smacks your hand black and blue.”
“Count on it.” I blew her a kiss and left the doorway, feeling guilty about leaving her even as I wanted to escape. I just couldn’t stop feeling slightly off around her, even though there was nowhere else in the world I’d rather be.
“What’re you making?” I asked as soon as I stepped into the kitchen and found Eva studiously smothering carrots, apples, and celery with peanut butter.
And seriously, what was wrong with me? Why was I opting to be around Eva right now, instead of Reese?
Eva glanced up and narrowed her eyes, pointing the butter knife in my direction. “You,” she hissed.
Then she grabbed my arm and tugged me close, way closer than I was comfortable being to her.
“Hey.” I tried to pull free, but she was having none of it.
“This has to stop,” she growled, glancing warily toward the opening of the kitchen as if making sure Reese wasn’t behind me.
“What?” I cried innocently. “I just walked into the kitchen, for God’s sake.”
Finally pulling loose, I scowled and made a production of dusting myself free of all things Eva.
She sniffed. “As if. Your nonstop moping is sucking the life out of Reese. I hope you realize that.”
Ah, shit. Even Mercer could see what was going on. That couldn’t be good. But, “What the hell am I supposed to do about it?” I snapped right back. “I can’t stop what happened. It already happened.”
“Yes, it did,” she agreed calmly. “But it’s over and done with. All you can control now is how you react to it. And you’re having a really bad reaction. It’s dragging Reese down with you.”
