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They found the K-through-twelve campus, but it sat atop an incline that was too far off the road to suit Calder. “Let’s stay here.” He led Elle into the school bus stop.
The shelter was open on all sides except for the back, which had a plexiglass shield. It and the metal roof kept the rain off. They collapsed onto the bench.
“What happens if a car comes along?” Elle asked.
“It’s so quiet out here, it’ll announce itself before it gets here. We’ll hightail it into that grove.”
The silence was broken only by the patter of rain on the roof and their individual shifts on the hard bench seeking a more comfortable position. Calder’s leather jacket squeaked as he went to take it off. “Here, Elle, put this on.”
Looking straight ahead rather than at him, she said, “The lining will get wet. I’m fine.”
She looked cold and bedraggled, but he didn’t press it. After a time, he said, “Earlier, when Weeks let us use our phones, you made a call. Who to? Your parents?” She didn’t answer. “It’s none of my business, of course.”
She exhaled with annoyance. “I called Glenda.”
“Hmm. Is that when you told her about last night, and us? Or am I wrong in assuming that I’m thehimshe scornfully referred to?” She turned her head, her lips parted and ready to speak, but he stopped her. “Don’t try denying it. I was observing you, Elle.”
“You were rudely staring a hole through me.”
“Which is how I know you got upset by something she said to you. I was closely watching your face.”
“Why?”
“Primarily because I like looking at it.”
She rolled her eyes.
“And secondly, I was gauging your expression, because the last time I was looking into your face and gauging your expression, you were in the throes of a long and clenching orgasm.”
She glared daggers at him. “That must’ve made you feel proud.”
“It made me feel like the king of the fucking jungle.” She didn’t roll her eyes at that, maybe because of the dead seriousness of the declaration. He let it hover, then said, “When I came, I thought my heart was going to burst.”
She ducked her head, but he placed his finger beneath her chin and tilted it up, forcing her to look squarely at him. “And it still wasn’t enough.”
Without expression, she held his gaze for a moment, then lifted her chin off his finger. “That must be why you stuck around for so long afterward, why I couldn’t get rid of you and practically had to kick you out the door. Oh, no, wait. You left in such a hurry, you didn’t even pull the door all the way shut.”
This time, she stopped him from speaking by holding up her hand, palm out, directly in front of his face. “I know. You’re a shit. Boil you in oil. Which, granted, isn’t a bad idea. But there’s no need to belabor the point. I told you it would be a mistake, but we did it, and biologically it was—”
“A seismic shift.”
“Momentarily pacifying. It’s done. History. We don’t have to talk about it anymore.”
“The hell we don’t.”
“I don’t. Not now or later or ever.”
He’d learned from experience that dealing with someone who was this angry was pointless. They tended to take a stance and only dig in deeper. It was better to back off and wait for another opening.
Of course, Elle wasn’t just “someone,” but their current circumstances weren’t conducive to having a heart-to-heart like they needed to have.
He wasn’t going to surrender on one point, though. “During that phone call, what did Glenda say that upset you?”
“Don’t flatter yourself into thinking it was about you.”
“Then what was it?”
She looked aside, and he thought she would refuse to share. But then she turned back to him. “Jeff and his wife had their baby. A boy.”
