Page 59 of Clear Shot

“Okay, great. I’m glad you have somewhere safe to be while I’m on the road.”

She freezes. “You’re…leaving?”

“Yeah, I told you.” I pause. “Didn’t I? I’m meeting the team in Montreal the day after tomorrow.”

“Oh.” She looks a little shaken, and I reach for her.

“What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

“I don’t know. This is…a lot. We’re homeless and most of our stuff is ruined and now you’re leaving.” She clamps her hand over her mouth as tears puddle in her eyes.

“Hey, come here.” I pull her close and wrap my arms around her. “Everything’s okay. I’ll hire a realtor while I’m gone and they can find us a new place to live. You’ll be with Sloane at your brother’s, and by the time I get back, we’ll be ready to move. Don’t worry about stuff… I can buy you more.”

“I don’t care about stuff!” She bursts into tears.

“Shh.” I stroke her hair and hold her tighter. “Tell me what it’s about. Are you scared?”

“N-no.”

“Then what is it?”

“It’s you. Us. We just—I mean, what we did, and now you’re leaving and I don’t know what I’m supposed to do or how to act or feel or?—”

“Hey.” I gently shake her, pulling away enough so I can look into her teary face. “Is that what this is about? Us making love?” I sigh, mentally cursing myself. We should have talked about our current situation but things were somewhat out of my control.“I’m sorry, babe. That’s my bad. I meant to, but between the hurricane and everything going on, we were so tired at night.”

“I’m sorry.” She swipes at her eyes. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I think maybe I’m a little traumatized and now you’re leaving…”

“I’ll be back,” I whisper. “You know that, right? It’s just a week, and then we’ll sit down and talk about…us.”

“Is there an us?” she whispers, watching my face.

“There’s always been an us. Even when we friend-zoned each other—we knew there was an us. Why do you think we’ve been fighting it so hard?”

“But we don’t?—”

“Shh.” I put a finger on her lips. “We can’t have this conversation now. Here.” I motion with my hand. “We have to pack up what we can, and then I have to pack for a road trip. I promise we will circle back to this. It just can’t be right this minute. Okay? Can you wait a few more hours?”

She nods. “Yes. I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me… so much death and destruction and sadness. I guess it’s impacted me more than I thought.”

“I think that’s pretty normal.” I brush my knuckles across her cheek. “You gonna be okay long enough for us to pack up our shit?”

“I think so. Yes.”

“I’m going to see if I can scrounge up a few boxes while you grab anything you think we can save.”

“All right.”

I hate being so abrupt about something so important but I have a schedule now, and as much as I want to give her all of my attention, it has to wait.

But not too long.

We are going to talk.

Then I’m going to make love to her again.

Maybe more than once.

Chapter 21