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She squirmed, and I let my hand fall to my sides. When she spun around, Rachel wouldn’t look me in the eye. On the contrary, she looked everywhere else, a blank expression on her face. I frowned, placed a hand underneath her chin, and looked into her eyes.
“Are you okay? You’ve been acting weird the past few days.”
Rachel looked at a spot over my shoulders and cleared her throat. “I’m fine.”
“Rach, what’s wrong? You know you can tell me, right?”
Rachel shifted, and I dropped my hand. She brushed past me and went straight into the living room, where Ron sat on the couch, with his feet propped on the table, staring at the TV. She picked up the remote, and in spite of Ron’s protests, she made him pick up all of his toys and place them back in the box underneath my desk.
When he was done, she sent him to the bathroom before she twisted to face me. “Thanks for dinner. It was delicious.”
“I’m glad I gave you a chance to relax tonight,” I replied, pausing to bridge the distance between us. Rachel stood up straighter and stiffened. “Are you sure everything is okay?”
“Why wouldn’t it be?”
“Because you won’t even look at me.”
Rachel’s blue eyes flicked to my face, and she hesitated before looking away. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Rach, I don’t know what’s happening, but please don’t push me away. I’m here.”
“I’m ready to go, mommy.” Ron materialized, droplets of water sliding down his face and onto the floor. He skipped over to us and threw an arm around his mother’s stomach. “Do we have to go home? Can’t we spend the night here?”
Rachel ran a hand through his hair. “We can’t tonight, sweetheart. Maybe some other night.”
Ron glanced between the two of us before throwing his arms around me for a hug. I held him to me and exhaled, wanting to bottle the scent of his berry shampoo and soap. When he pulled away, a hollow feeling settled in the center of my stomach. In silence, I walked them to the door, willing Rachel to look at me the entire time.
But she never did.
In the doorway to my apartment, I lingered and waited until Rachel got the door open. She ushered Ron in and slammed the door shut behind her without a backward glance. For a while, I stood there, bile rising in the back of my throat until I couldn’t take it anymore. I pushed myself off the wall, went back in, and kicked the door shut with the back of my leg. Then I began to pace from one end of the room to the next.
Something was definitely wrong.
And unless Rachel chose to confide in me, I was left stumbling around in the dark, looking for answers. Since the day she stopped by the office to leave the USB stick, she’d been acting strange. It was almost as if she didn’t want to be around meanymore. Over the past few days, she had taken to leaving a wide berth of space between us at all times.
In the car on the way to and from Ron’s school.
While we were at the dinner table, and when she sat with me.
She inched away whenever I came too close and had been coming up with excuses to spend more and more time in her apartment. Overnight, Rachel had gone from being attentive, loving, and kind to keeping me at arm’s length.
And it frustrated me to no end because I didn’t understand it.
What had I done to drive her away?
For the life of me, I couldn’t figure it out.
I wracked my brain for answers until a headache formed in the back of my skull.
With a grunt, I wandered into the kitchen and rummaged through the cupboards. When I pulled the bottle of whiskey from the back, I poured a generous amount into the glass and downed it all in one gulp. It burned a path down my throat before settling in the pit of my stomach.
I ran a hand over my face and grimaced.
Half of me was tempted to march over to Rachel’s apartment and demand answers. The other half of me was afraid of what I would find out if I did. For a while, I stood there, contemplating a half-empty glass of whiskey before finishing it all. Then I stood up, scrubbed a hand over my face, and exhaled.
My phone buzzed in my pocket, bringing me back to the present with a jolt.
I fished it out of my pocket, held it up, and frowned.
