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Riker held her eyes until he saw them turn bright with tears, then she looked away. He wasn’t going to make this harder for her by caging her in. He took a couple of steps away from her, then he bent down and grabbed the fallen clothes and the suitcase. He put the clothes on the table but placed the suitcase in the far corner of the room out of her reach. When Riker walked back to Gia he was careful not to stand too close.
“What are you doing, Gia?”
“I’m going to see my cousin.” Gia face kept her face averted but her nose lifted slightly in the air.
In fucking Haiti? I don’t think so.
“You plan on taking my baby with you?”
Gia whipped her head around at him and put a protective hand over her belly. “Don’t be ridiculous, I can’t exactly leave him home.”
“Him?” Riker arched a brow and grinned.
“It’s just a pronoun Riker, I refuse to call our baby it. We agreed not to find out the gender of the baby, and I—unlikeyou—keep my promises.”
“See that’s the thing, honey.” He shook his head as if sadly resigned.
“What’s the thing?” Gia asked.
“Ourbaby.Weagreed. You pretty much just said it yourself. We’re in this together.”
“Humph” She crossed her arms over her chest.
“What does Humph mean, Gia? And what do you mean I don’t keep my promises? Name one thing so far that I haven’t delivered on.” Riker moved towards the kitchen and the tea kettle. He intended to break the damn tension because the woman was acting crazy.He leaves for a couple of hours and she’s packing her shit up and moving to the Caribbean?
What. The. Fuck?
“You want some chamomile tea?” Riker asked.She loved the shit and thank god too, because apparently those dried flower buds could calm down a stampede of elephants.
Gia bit her lip and nodded absently then slumped down in the chair and waited. In the three minutes it took to make the tea, neither of them said a thing.
Riker brought it to her, hot and sweetened with honey just the way she liked it. When he put the cup on the table in front of her, she leaned in over the mug and breathed in the fragrant steam. Riker watched Gia as she let out a long sigh and her shoulders slumped with released tension.
Riker waited while she took a couple of tentative sips. Then he pulled up a chair and sat across from Gia until his knees touched hers. He waited until she put the cup down and grabbed both of her hands in his. Though his touch was light, it was also firm and when Gia tried to pull away, he tightened his grip. She stared down at the strong hands that held hers.
“What did I do to make you want to leave me, Gia?” He asked softly.
Riker watched on in fascination as her lower lip began to quiver and her lashes grew wet. With one big gulp of air, she steadied her breath, straightened her spine and looked at him in the eye.
“It was you who left, Riker. You left me first.” She told him.
“What?” He looked at her incredulously. “Baby, I was gone about two hours.”
She sniffled. “We were in the middle of an argument, an argument about my father, an argument that was going nowhere. An argument that contained adeal breaker— and poof—just like that you left me.” Her tone was accusatory, her hands like ice in his.”
“First of all, Gia, there is nodeal-breaker. This deal is done, and I don’t know how many more times I have to say it.”
“Action speaks louder than words,” she said. Then she narrowed her eyes at him, the kitten baring her claws.
“You left. Without a word.”
“I said good-bye.”
“No. What you said waslater babeand before I could even respond your bike was roaring down the driveway. I didn’t know if you were going out for cigarettes or heading for the hills. I had no idea what had happened but considering how you wentballisticat my Uncle’s offer, I had a pretty good idea you wouldn’t be coming back any time soon.”
“Yeah, well about that.” Riker scrubbed a hand over his face. “I haven’t changed my mind about taking that money.”
“And I haven’t changed my mind about not taking it.” Gia tried to pull her hands away again. So I might as well keep on packing, if I hadn’t had a bunch of clothes in the wash I’d be gone already.”
