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Cold comfort, I supposed, even if he never made his way back to my bed.
That ball’s in your court. Don’t say anything you will regret later.
I sent him a quick reply.
I’ll see what I can do.
The phone rang in my hand. I accepted the call before sense could kick in. I was too greedy for the sound of his voice.
Already.
“Are you okay?” he asked softly before I could figure out how to say hello.
My face grew hot and I shifted on the window seat, making Princess leap off and streak toward the bedroom. She hated how fidgety I could be.
Me too.
“I’m okay.”
“When you didn’t come for lunch…”
“You expected me to never speak to you again?” I asked, equally quietly.
I’d thought of it. Not because he deserved that sort of treatment but because it took so much out of me to try to seem normal—even my slightly twisted version.
“I didn’t know. I just wanted to say I’m really glad you didn’t do…that.”
“Me too.” I bit my lip. “Aren’t you busy right now?”
“Yeah.” He let out a little laugh. “I’m in the janitorial closet. Only place I could get a moment’s privacy other than the john. I have another appointment in like two minutes. We’ve been dealing with a hoarding case today. So many kittens that are sick and there’s been a pregnant dog, and ill rabbits, and God, it’s a mess. And then there were the ones we couldn’t save.”
My throat tightened to the point of pain. “Oh, I’m so sorry. Areyouokay?”
“Yeah. Just it’s hard. I shouldn’t even be talking about it but it’ll be all over the news tonight.” He exhaled. “Not that I’ll be watching TV. I’ll be here.”
“All night?”
“Yeah, I repacked my overnight bag when I stopped home to see Lucky.”
“Because I never told you I’d made sure he was all right. I’m sorry. I messed up.” I rubbed my eyes. “Going out isn’t easy for me. And sometimes I forget all the steps…”
“I talked to Mrs. Fields. She told me what you did. I forgot to give you the combination for Lucky’s food canister.” He laughed. “My little larcenist.”
He’d just rolled over my admission and I let him, because I so didn’t want to get into that now. He was far too busy to deal with my issues at the moment. “Not so little. But he gives great hugs.”
“Wow, he let you hug him? Did you tie him up? Slather yourself in tuna juice?”
“I didn’t give him a lot of choice, but he didn’t fight me off.”
“Maybe it’s time we try introducing him to Princess again. A bit more of a coordinated effort this time.” His amused tone had me halfway to smiling again before I remembered it would probably be better if we didn’t see each other right away.
I needed to get some clarity back. And that wasn’t going to happen with him around.
Or on the phone.
Or in my texts.
Or hell, even in my very confused brain.
