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“Shit, Danny!” she said in a harsh whisper, still clutching her chest. “What are you doing here?”
He stood, trying not to laugh, but laughing anyway. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” he repeated a bunch of times, although he seemed much more amused than sorry.
“It’s not funny,” Abbe said, walking past him so he wasn’t between her and the front door.
“I know, you’re right,” he said, holding up his hands. He looked good. His sandy brown hair was freshly trimmed, and his clothes were new. He had been gaining a little weight the last time she saw him but he seemed to have lost some of it. “I waited here because I wanted to talk to you, and I can’t go to the shelter.”
“You could have called,” she said.
“I tried. All day,” he said, frustrated. “Don’t you answer your phone anymore?”
Abbe’s heart sank, knowing that it was Danny who had been trying to contact her, not Rafe. She suddenly realized that she missed Rafe, and she didn’t want to try to put him out of her mind anymore. She just wanted to see him.
“So, step two for you is not to wait for me to call you back when I’m ready, but to drop by?” she asked. “That’s not fair. We agreed that this was my space, not yours.”
“I know. I don’t live here anymore,” he replied in a placating manner. He jammed his hands in his jacket pockets. “It’s getting chilly,” he remarked, shivering.
She knew he was waiting for her to ask him inside. “This isn’t a good time,” she said.
“That’s okay,” he replied, like he was trying to convince himself that he was okay with it, when deep down he wasn’t. He couldn’t resist adding, “I mean, I waited here for, like, anhour.”
“I didn’t ask you to.”
“I know,” he said, lifting his hands again as if he was surrendering. “Maybe we can go for coffee tomorrow, then?”
He really expected her to invite him inside, or block out time for him the next day simply because he’d sat outside her place. She felt her phone buzzing in her pocket.
“Why don’t you just say what you came here to say now?” Abbe suggested, checking her phone. It was Rafe.
His text simply said,Can I call you?but seeing it filled her with relief. He still wanted to call her, at least.
“Who is that?” Danny asked with a worried frown. For some reason Abbe felt guilty, which she knew was ridiculous. “Is that the new guy?” he asked, trying to laugh it off, and failing when his voice caught slightly.
Abbe felt the sudden urge to get rid of Danny so she could call Rafe. She wanted to see Rafe, to talk to him. Mostly she wanted to let him know that she wasn’t upset with him. She never really had been, she realized.
“It is,” she admitted gently.
Danny looked hurt. “Are you going to see him tonight?” he asked stiffly. By adding the word “tonight” he was trying to ask without asking if Abbe was sleeping with him.
“I don’t know,” she replied. “But I hope I do.”
Anger washed through him. He turned his hands out at his sides, making frustrated noises. Then he looked at her pleadingly. “I know what I did was appalling. I know I—”
“Wait, Danny,” Abbe interjected, stopping him right there. “This isn’t about you, or what happened between us. I’m not seeing Rafe to punish you, or to spite you.”
“Rafe?” he said, registering that it was an uncommon name.
“Yes, his name is Raphael. I call him Rafe.” She couldn’t help but smile when she said his name. Thinking about him made her happy.
Danny watched her reaction, looking devastated. “So, you really like him?” he asked.
“I do.”
Danny took that in, his lips pursed. “Fine,” he said, his expression changing from angry to resolute. “I’m not giving up on us, Abbe. Meet me for coffee tomorrow. We’ll talk. When Ihaven’tambushed you.”
Abbe chuckled at that, appreciating that at least he was owning up to it. “Okay, Danny. Tomorrow afternoon. I’ll be covered in cat hair—”
“—as usual,” he said with rueful fondness. “Thank you.”
