AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“This time your note was a little more clear.” She held it up and read it aloud. “‘Going for a jog. I’ll be back. Don’t go anywhere.’” She gave me a dry look.
“What? Clear is good, right?”
“Did you really think I was going somewhere?” She glanced out the kitchen window, where nothing could be seen but trees across the side yard. “Where even are we? Coquitlam?”
It was dark last night when we drove out here, and fair enough, she’d been half-asleep, fighting to keep her eyes open.
“Yup.”
“This is home?” she asked me, confused.
“I like to think of it as my home away from home.” I leaned back against the counter, looking across the small room at her. “No one knows about it. I’d appreciate it if you don’t tell them.”
That clearly surprised her. “No one knows about this place?”
“Well, my close friends do. My family doesn’t.”
She cocked her head, interested. “Why?”
I considered that. “Well… There was a long period in my life when I really wanted separation from my family. I guess I just wanted a place of my own, somewhere they couldn’t find me. Where I could just get away from it all. And then, as time went on… I just never really had a reason to get rid of it. It’s still nice sometimes, to get away. Just leave the city behind. Be no one for a while.”
“You mean, not be an Ellis?”
“Yeah. That.”
“I understand that, I think.” She crossed her arms. “I love my family. We’re super close. But sometimes… I have to say, it’s been nice, living down in San Diego. Getting out from under my mother’s expectations for a while. They do get heavy.”
Yeah. I knew all about those heavy expectations.
But I didn’t love the reminder about her life in California.
More and more, it was just making me uneasy.
I was trying not to think about it, but it wasn’t going away. With each passing hour, it just drew closer.
I watched Jolie look around the house; what she could see of it from where she was standing. The main living space. It was smaller than my loft downtown. Just a kitchen and an adjoining living room, the nicest feature of which was the wood-burning fireplace. It was a simple rancher, built in the seventies. I’d had the bathrooms and the kitchen updated a bit, but not much else. It was low on the frills and I liked it that way.
She eyed me sidelong. “You’re like… a mountain man. I’ve never seen this side of you. Did you chop all that firewood I saw stacked outside when we pulled in last night?”
“Of course.”
“Hmmm. Sexy.” Her gaze drifted over to the fireplace.
“We don’t call it the love shack for nothing.”
She looked at me curiously. Then her eyes landed on the coffee maker, which was making that comforting babbling brook sound. “You’re making me coffee?”
“How do you know it’s for you?” I teased.
“I’ve never seen you drink coffee.”
“I don’t usually, when I’m training for a big fight.”
“So it is for me.”
“If you want it.” I hesitated, then told her, “You know, I was going for coffee that morning, after the night we met.”
She stared at me.
