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Katie mustered up a half grin and Landon pulled her against him until her back rested against his chest and her legs stretched out into the bubbles.
"Well I’m mad at you too," she said as she settled in.
"Why are you mad at me? What did I do?"
"You lied to me."
"Bullshit. When?"
"You said you kept up your streak."
"No, no, no, I said the streak was fine. And it is. Twenty-eight is a perfectly fine streak."
"What?! That’s ridiculous! That’s not what I meant and you know it!"
Landon kissed the damp tendrils on her neck. "I told you what you needed to hear. I should have left before the game anyway. When Ellis first showed me the message from Kyle."
"True," Katie agreed. "If you hadn’t taken a turn at the plate, your streak would have carried over, right?"
"Baby, I don’t know how many times I have to say it: Fuck the streak. I knew something was wrong and I could have saved you from being hurt. I'll never forgive myself for not getting to you sooner. For what he did to you…"
"Landon, stop, I’m fine. I’ll be all healed up by the time you’re back from this next road trip. It’s just a few scratches and bruises."
"And exhaustion and dehydration and a burn." He brought her forearm up and kissed the red welt. "And probably a concussion too." His lips moved to the side of her neck, where she knew angry purple marks dotted her skin. "It’s more than all that though. You wouldn’t be human if you weren’t traumatized by everything that's happened."
Katie sniffed and laced her fingers with his in the water, her only response.
Landon prodded again. "So ummm, do you want to maybe talk about the other stuff? I mean, stuff happened with him already, right? Like before in Georg—"
"I’m fine, Landon. You heard the doctor, he clearly said I’m fine. I just feel bad you called in that private medical service when I’m going to quit anyway. If I even still have a job to quit."
Landon blew out a long sigh, but he went along with the change of topic. "Look Katie, I already told you, Lori doesn’t know about us. I called and told her I threw my weight around and forced both you and Ellis to desert the VIP box to help me with my quote-unquote family emergency. She's not back for several days anyway, so you don’t have to march into her office today and throw in the towel."
Katie’s hands went still in his. "You don’t want me to quit?"
Landon cleared his throat before he responded. "That’s not what I said."
But the pause had been too long and that wasn’t entirely a denial either. Water sloshed out as Katie wiggled to sit up, spinning all the way around in the giant tub to face him.
"You don’t want me to quit." It wasn’t a question this time.
"No, that’s not true. I don’t want you to resent me," Landon clarified.
Katie barely heard him through the fog of horror wafting over her. Thousands of dollars spent to basically get one life lesson out of therapy—don’t make assumptions—and she’d been making them left and right. She brought her wet hands up to cover her eyes, mortified to look back at him and see the pity. Ugh and she’d been going on and on all morning about quitting her job.
"Oh my god, I’ve read this all wrong haven’t I? Look if you’re sitting there pitying me, thinking you can’t just let me down gently because I’ve just been traumatized or something, just…don’t. Don’t do that. I’m fine. Completely fine. You're not required to act like my boyfriend just because all this happened."
"What? No, I want to be with you, okay? You’re basically moving in," he pointed out.
"No, I’m not. It’s just for a couple days until I can find a new apartment."
"Katie..."
"I just can’t sleep over there. I could maybe be there during the day, but I know I won’t be able to sleep there. But you know what? It is only a few days, I can get a hotel."
"Kat—"
"That makes the most sense. Obviously, I’m not asking you to take care of me. You know that, right? I would never—oh my god,never. And no matter what, I’m getting another job. I can wait tables or something. I do have enough for a few nights at a hotel. I’m not that broke."
