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I closed my eyes and focused on taking slow, measured breaths. She was just going to church with her family. The past two times she did that had gone fine. There was no reason to freak out. Except last week when she did this, Dantalion didn’t know I was guarding her. Last week, everything felt different.
I changed into fresh clothes, shoved my feet into my boots, and dug the cell phone I bought last weekend out of my backpack. I almost wanted to laugh at how resistant I’d been to getting the stupid electronic. The irony wasn’t lost on me and probably wouldn’t be lost on Sierra either.
Me:Did you get to church safely?
I paced the living room while I waited for her to respond. There was so much more I wanted to say, but I needed her to answer this question before I pissed her off and made her not want to talk to me.
Sierra:Yes.
I glared at the screen in my hand. She gave me a fucking heart attack when I woke up in an empty apartment and all I got from her was a one-word text?
Me:You left without even telling me you were leaving. Do you have any idea how close I am to trying the handcuffs option?
I knew she wasn’t serious when she’d asked if I planned on putting her in handcuffs during one of our earliest fights about her going out unnecessarily, but the idea was sounding better and better by the minute.
Sierra:I’m at church. Could you save the kinky comments for later?
Me:Only if you’ll agree to come straight home after the service. No side trips for food.
Seconds ticked by while I waited for her response. I knew it would be angry or sassy, but I still expected an answer. Instead, I got nothing but silence.
Me:Answer me.
Me:Sierra, I swear if I don’t hear from you in the next two seconds, I’m buying the handcuffs.
Me:Okay, I’m sorry. I could have worded all that differently. Please don’t make any side trips after church.
Me:Call me when service is over. Please?
An hour later, my cell phone vibrated in my pocket.
“Sierra—”
“Hold on, I want to talk first,” she said, cutting me off. “I know this weekend hasn’t exactly been easy, but that doesn’t give you the right to become overbearing and controlling. I left you a note. You have my number. I wasn’t doing anything reckless. I’m not the one who’s being unreasonable here.”
I ground my teeth as I tried to keep from saying something that was only going to make this worse. “What restaurant are you going to?” I asked in a tight voice.
I could hear her sigh through the phone. “Lilac Blossom. It’s to the right of the park across the street from the apartment complex. It’s about a ten-minute walk. I’m assuming I’ll meet you there?”
I was already out the door and jogging in the direction of the restaurant. “Stay on the phone.”
“No. I have to call in the order. Do you want anything?”
It took everything in me not to growl into the phone. “Get me whatever you’re getting yourself. And call me back as soon as you’re done. Please.” The last word was added as an afterthought, but I was trying here.
“Fine.”
I met Sierra in the parking lot of a strip mall containing the Chinese restaurant, a spa, a hair salon, and a disc golf store. She didn’t say anything to me as she walked into the restaurant and paid for the food or when I followed her to her car and we drove the two minutes home.
“How was church?” I asked when we were back in the apartment and I couldn’t stand her silence any longer.
“It was good.” She handed me two take-out containers and grabbed the remaining ones herself.
She didn’t bother with plates as she sat at the table and opened up her food. I watched her dig into the most unhealthy-looking meal I’d ever witnessed her eat with her chopsticks. I attempted using my own pair of chopsticks for about three seconds before giving up and heading into the kitchen for easier silverware.
I glanced at Sierra through the window in the kitchen wall and caught her smirking. I had a feeling she was enjoying my defeat with the chopsticks.
“Are you mad at me for the handcuffs comment, or is there something else?” I asked when I returned to the table.
