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They each breathe what I guess is a sigh of relief, thank me and leave. Once they're gone, I walk out of the conference room and head to my office. "Do I have any more meetings today, Katie?" This has been a long day of presentations –all but one of them useless. I look at my watch. Three in the afternoon and I want my time clear so that I can read through this proposal for You Are Loved.
“No, Mr. Masters,” she tells me as I walk into my office. I’m relieved that I can have time to look through it.
After putting my coat on the back of the seat, I send Jackson a quick message to see what time he’ll be finished for the day. If he finishes early, I’m going to get him to come over to the house so I can show him this proposal.
* * *
I walk through the door glad to be home. Jackson said he would be here in about twenty minutes. I could spend that time with Hope but at the moment my feelings for her are changing and I don’t know how to control them.
Throwing the folders on the table in the sitting room, I collapse on the couch and close my eyes for a moment. I spent the whole evening reading through the You Are Loved proposal, and I've highlighted a lot of it and put notes for everything I want to talk to them about.
“How was your day?” I ask Hope as I feel her in the room. She’s still very good at staying quiet before she enters.
“Good, how was yours?” she asks.
The fact that she's talking to me without me pushing her is a good start for me. Opening my eyes, I smile as she sits on the table in front of me.
“It’s nice to finally see your face first and not your head.” I smile. Her eyes aren’t looking at me, but I get to see her face. I’m happy with that. “My day was busy, so I’m going to enjoy my evening at home.”
"Would you like a beer?" Hope leans down and starts untying my shoelaces. "What time would you like dinner? The pizza is made, just needs to go in the oven."
“Jackson will be here soon, so I’ll ask him.” She lowers her head as she takes my shoes off and I lean forward and take her hand in mine. “You don’t have to do this,” I tell her, bring her hand up and place it on my leg for a moment.
She keeps her head down. “I want to,” she says.
I have to start getting it in my head that some things will take longer for her to break free from. I mean she still hasn't really broken free from the rules she had to live by. I just have to give her time.
“You going to keep your head high, show Jackson how beautiful you are?” I ask her.
“I will try, promise.” She takes my shoes and puts them by the stairs and walks over to the kitchen.
Leaning back again, I listen to the music coming from the kitchen—Avril Lavigne – Head under Water—she walks back over with a beer for me, and I take it. "Sit with me. Do you drink?"
"No, I don't plan on it either." Her gaze darts around the sitting room and mine rests on her. "They would drink and then do things to me," she says, and there she is with they.Who are they? I always thought it was one person, never thought about there being more.
Pushing myself off the sofa to sit up straight I say, "When my mom was over, and I said she was going to look at your hands, you panicked and said you followed the rules...was it a manandwoman that hurt you?” I ask her. I never clicked on it at the time, but she is sayingtheya lot more.
“Yes.” Her voice cracks a little as she answers me.
Bringing her hand closer to me I tell her, “You’ve peeled a lot of skin on your hands.” I hold her hand in mine for a little longer. “Are you taking warmer showers?” The lotion should be working by now; I might ask my mom about it.
“I should get some salad prepared.” Hope goes to walk away from me without giving me my answer, so I pull her down to sit again.
“Hope, please have a warm shower, itwillhelp your skin. Why did they stop you having a warm shower?" Her eyes move to look at me; I wish I could see her smile just once. I bet her eyes would shine brightly.
“I wasn’t worth the heat.” She walks away the moment she finishes her sentence.
I hear footsteps. Jackson’s here, maybe he’s the reason she walked away. “Where’s Hope?” he asks, sitting on the couch next to me, putting the TV on to some NFL game.
“Where do you think?” I ask him. The place she spends the most time in.
“Kitchen?” He looks over as she walks toward him with a beer. “Thanks, Hope.” He takes the bottle from her and tilts his head to look at her face, but she turns around before he gets the chance. “I was close that time.” He starts laughing.
"Give her time. Did you get my message about You Are Loved?" I ask him. I want his input on this. I have a good feeling about it but there are a lot of obstacles to get it up and running, and I want him to be the head lawyer on this.
“Yeah, did you bring it with you?” Jackson looks over at Hope setting the table up.
“Hope, just bring the pizza in here, watch the game,” I shout out over to her. Returning my attention to Jackson I reply, “Yeah, but let’s have food first. It’s been one of those days where I just want to sit and do nothing.” I had meetings all morning, but my mind was on Hope the whole time. The website she mentioned, the price, the people. Who are they and where do I find them?
