Page 72 of Beaten

He’d included a link to the O’Neill’s website along with the address. I forced myself to calm down before replying: Copy that.

“What happened?” Jack asked.

“Emily and Ashley are out drinking at a bar.”

“Eric’s with them, and driving, so what’s the big deal?”

“It’s not safe. What if Craig shows up? Bars are too chaotic to effectively protect someone.” It wasn’t true but that didn’t stop me from wearing a path on the kitchen floor with my pacing.

“Will you please sit down?” Jack was sitting at the kitchen table, monitoring the video feed from a camera Doug had set up for a client who wanted to know if her husband was cheating. Catching cheating spouses was our least favorite part of the job, but it helped pay the bills.

I didn’t respond, or stop pacing, as I thought about all the things that could go wrong. I was getting ready to text Eric and ask for an update, wondering if I had time to drive to the bar before they left.

“James!” Judging by his tone, and the use of my full name, he’d been trying to get my attention for a while. “Sit down. Tell me what’s going on.” He kicked a chair out to emphasize that it wasn’t a request.

I sat but didn’t say anything. I was still thinking I might drive to the bar, until Jack reached over and took my phone out of my hands. “Jamie, remember me telling you I’d let you know if you weren’t handling this well?”

I nodded.Shit.

“You aren’t handling this well. The chance of Craig randomly showing up at the bar they chose, at random is next to zero.”

“But-”

Jack cut me off. “No. No buts. Something’s eating at you, but it’s not Emily being in immediate danger.” He continued to monitor his screen while talking to me.

“I don’t think this thing with Craig is over but she won’t talk to me. She barely said a word when I went over to tell her Craig had been arrested.”

“And?” He prodded when my pause lasted too long.

What a pain in my ass. “And, she thinks I canceled our date because I don’t want to take her out at all.”

Jack knew all this, I’d talked to him when I’d gotten home that night. Meg was there too, and hadn’t been afraid to tell me she thought I was an idiot for postponing our date.

“I tried telling her she was wrong, but she wouldn’t listen. She slammed the door in my face, figuratively and literally.” I’d been giving her space since then, even though I’d thought about calling her a hundred times a day.

“That was your first mistake. You can’t tell a woman her feelings are wrong.” Of course he was right. I’d learned that lessen the hard way with Isabelle.But had clearly forgotten.

I’d tried to tell her she’d misunderstood me, not that her feelings were wrong.Did I make the distinction clear?I wasn’t sure I had.

“Have you tried talking to her since then? Done anything to show her she misunderstood your intentions?”

No. “I’ve been giving her space. Though I went to the house to tell her in person about Craig’s arrest, rather than just sending a text, hoping she’d talk to me.” She hadn’t.

Meg had been listening quietly as she skimmed a magazine in the living room, but stopped and joined us.

“I wanted to talk to her but she was so cold and formal, she practically pushed me out the door as soon as I finished delivering the news.”

Meg asked, “Did you tell her you wanted to talk to her? Or did you just deliver the news like a cop?”

“What?” I asked, a little harsher than I’d intended.What kind of question was that?

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but you can be very un-charming when you’re doing your job. You come off as professional, impersonal. So you can hardly blame her if she didn’t realize you showing up in person was some grand romantic gesture.” Meg waved her arms around dramatically.

I took a second to think about it. I had been professional when I delivered the news, but only because it was necessary. And I tried to make small talk, but didn’t tell her I wanted to talk to her.

“So how do I get her to listen to me if she thinks I’m just doing my job every time I try to talk to her?”

“Buy her flowers.” Her tone was so thick with judgement, I swear I heard the implied ‘dumbass’.

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