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Neither attempted to set the table.
Reece sipped his coffee.
“I slept in a hotel, and spent all day walking around town, thinking over and over again about what you said last evening. I came back here early in the afternoon, but you were gone.”
Another pause followed his words. If he expected Jess to offer more explanation, she was too past caring about his feelings to bother.
Reece dropped his head, his troubled eyes focused on his hands which were entwined around the coffee cup.
“Not knowing where you were or when you were coming back, I decided to go to the restaurant where we met, to eat something.”
“You could’ve called or sent a text.”
He raised his head looking meaningfully at her. “I wasn’t sure you’d answer.”
An uneasy pause followed his statement. Jess wasn’t sure she would’ve answered the phone either.
“While I was at the bar drinking a beer, this couple arrived,” he went on. “Without even giving the woman time to sit on one of the stools, the man started to call her names, disgracing her in front of a batch of utter strangers. Then he started to physically abuse her, grabbing her by the arm, repeatedly shaking her, bruising her skin, making her flinch. By then, I’d had all I could tolerate. What was going on was none of my business, but I felt compelled to do something to stop him. The bartender had already tried to call the guy back to order a couple times, but he wouldn’t listen.”
Mixed emotions crossed his eyes. Jess’s heart jumped wildly up and down her chest, when one of the many emotions she saw was regret.
“I didn’t punch the man, only because I recognized myself in him. I had to witness a woman being mistreated by her man to understand how humiliated and hurt you must have felt each time I accused you of being a tease or called you names because of the way you made me feel. Not to say anything about the fact that I repeatedly assaulted you.”
Jess could hardly believe her ears. Surely her overactive mind was making up everything he was saying. Reece seemed genuinely sorry about his behavior. How far fetched could that be?
The quiche was completely forgotten.
“After he ignored my third appeal to calm down, I approached the guy, grabbed his arms, and twisted them against his back to immobilize him, asking the bartender to call the police. While we were waiting for them to arrive, the guy got quite verbally abusive with me as well, and tried a couple of times to break free from my hold, but I didn’t let him.” There was a slight inflection of pride in his voice as he said that.
“No matter what the woman had done to him, he had no right to treat her like trash in front of a crowd, or in any other place, for that matter.”
Again, a silence charged with mixed emotions stretched between them. Reece’s eyes bore intensely into hers, searching for something. Jess’s heart was about to burst with anticipation. Nonetheless, she forced herself to stop daydreaming. Somebody as jaded and headstrong as Reece didn’t undergo a change of heart overnight. Did he? What had happened back at the restaurant seemed to have profoundly touched him, shattering his convictions, but she’d already been swindled by his behavior before, and cautioned herself not to repeat the same mistake again.
Leaving his chair, Reece came to stand in front of her, helped her off her seat, and cupping her head, his eyes searched hers.
“I’m sorry Jess for the dreadful way I treated you time and again,” he said, sounding genuinely contrite, leaning down towards her. “I swear it won’t happen again as long as I have breath in my body.”
She closed her eyes against the sweet promise of those whispered words, feeling their melting power down to the pit of her stomach. He was pressing his forehead against hers with an unhurried back and forth motion of his head that bespoke of tender affection, and consideration. It became increasingly hard for Jess to keep a clear mind. Reece was the type of man who always meant what he said when not enraged. But his moods changed so often, hesitancy and hope waged a war inside her.
Her head was telling her not to trust him, that her morals and self-respect were seriously threatened whenever he was around. Her heart was telling her to forget the past, to take his words at face value, and throw herself into his arms.
There was only one way to find out how earnest he was.
“How can I be sure you won’t throw ugly accusations at me and belittle me next time your ego, or jealousy, gets in the way?”
Reece raised his head to look intently at her. “You can only take my word for it, but I give you permission to throw anything at me that you like, if I get too out of line.”
Jess smiled.
He smiled back.
Never taking his eyes off hers, Reece cradled his hands around her nape. The passion she saw in his stare left her breathless. She was going to faint. Jess was sure.
“I now understand what you mean when you talk about the right to choose. You want to be free to say no if you disagree with me.”
“But it doesn’t necessarily mean I won’t agree with you on other issues. I’m not trying to challenge your opinions.”
Reece raised a brow.
