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I lifted her off me. She slid off the bed and padded over to the table where her phone lay. She stared at it for a moment. The phone kept buzzing.
“Not your sisters,” I said.
She shook her head. “No, it’s one of my clients.” But she didn’t decline the call or turn off the phone. She just stood there, frozen and conflicted.
I let out a long, even breath. It would be a dick move to get angry and possessive of her time and attention. Even if all this crazy shit hadn’t just happened. I wasn’t going to be that guy anymore. Not today. Not ever.
“Answer it,” I told her. “Go for it. I know you want to. It’ll just torture you if you don’t.”
She shot me a grateful look and answered the call. The volume was up, and I could hear the guy’s voice very clearly.
“Nancy? What the hell? Are you there? Why did it take you so long to pick up?”
“It’s six in the morning, Peter.” She perched on the edge of the futon. “What do you need?”
“I thought of a great new order for the songs in the liner notes for the vinyl.”
“Oh, no,” Nancy said. “No way, Peter. You’ve changed them three times already. Let it go. If Shepard doesn’t have those liner notes by nine-thirty, the vinyl won’t make it into the catalog at all. You’re making it hard for me to make this happen for you.”
“But I just realized it now, Nance! It makes way more sense if I put ‘The Road to You’ at the end. Sometimes these flashes come at the last minute, you know? It’s part of the artistic process. Sometimes it requires a deadline.”
“Sure, but why is it always me who has to scramble?”
“Don’t be crabby, Nance. Enid and I have been busting our asses. We live, eat, sleep, and breathe this album. Believe me.”
She let out a sharp sigh. “Yeah. Well, I’ll meet you at your place at …” she peered at the digital clock. “Seven, okay? I don’t think I can get there before.”
There was a fresh burst of anxious talking on the line, but she cut it off.
“Later, Peter. Really. It’s too early. I can’t concentrate yet. Tell me about it when I get there.”
She closed the call, and looked around, as if waking from a dream. “Whoa. I totally forgot the liner notes for the vinyl, and the appointment with Shepard. My mind was wiped.” She shot me an apologetic look. “I’m sorry to cut this short, because this has been the most wonderful night I’ve ever had. But I’ve got to get myself moving. I’ve got a million things to?—”
“No,” I said. “You cannot do the million things, Nancy.”
She froze, eyes narrowing. “Excuse me?”
I couldn’t stop the rage from bubbling up, hot and dangerous and caustic. “What would it take to convince you that you can’t go flouncing around, la-di-da, and do your fucking errands like nothing even happened tonight?”
“The hell?” she said slowly. “Liam. I do not flounce. And they are not ‘fucking errands’. This is my job. It’s how I support myself.”
“You can’t support yourself if you’re dead.”
She flinched. The words were a blow, as I had meant them to be. “Jesus, Liam. You’re overdoing it.”
“You’re coming up to Latham with me. Where I can protect you.”
Her mouth dropped open. She let out an incredulous laugh. “Oh! Am I? Wow. Thanks so much for discussing this decision with me.”
“You have no grip on reality,” I said.
“On the contrary. It’s you who needs to get a grip.” Her voice shook. “Don’t think that I don’t appreciate what you did for me last night. But just because I’m in your debt, don’t start thinking that you’re the boss. I have a life, and I have to?—”
“That’s what I’m trying to help you protect! Not your work, Nancy. Not your career. Your life. Do you see what I’m trying to say here?”
“Liam, I’ll be perfectly safe in the light of day,” she assured me. “This city is swarming with millions of people?—”
“Two of whom came at us with a knife last night!”