Page 120 of A Dream for Daphne

Oh, I don’t know, he thought. The ominous words that make every man’s balls shrivel into their sack. Maybe he should have thought of that to get some control of his body.

Or it could be the slant to her eyes like he was going to get scolded for leaving the toilet seat up.

He knew it wasn’t that. His mother taught him well.

“You’re joking, right?” he asked. “It’s all over your face.”

She sighed. “Did you call Reese or Poppy and tell them I was worried I was going to get fired over what happened with Holly?”

That is what this was about?

That was weeks ago.

He wasn’t going to lie. It was nothing either.

“I didn’t call them,” he said. “Reese called me to check in when you were in your MRI. He wanted to know how you were doing. I said you were hanging in there. He kept saying howthankful they were you caught Holly and they were going to have a talk with her about it. I didn’t want them to make her feel bad about it. She’s just a kid.”

“They told me that,” she said. “You never said I was worried about my job?”

“I did,” he said. “But you said it too. Not in so many words about being fired. I might have been worked up over everything that had happened and the fact that the woman I loved got hurt right in front of my face and I couldn’t do anything to prevent it.”

She seemed to weigh his words. “I don’t need you to speak for me,” she said. “You even told me once you didn’t think I needed saving and yet your actions smacked of that exactly.”

“Come here,” he said. “I know you’re mad. You can yell at me if you want. But I’m going to speak up when I see you hurting on all sorts of levels. You were in pain and you didn’t need to be hurting on an emotional level either. You know by now they weren’t even thinking of terminating you, right?”

She sighed and leaned her head against his shoulder. “Earlier today when I found out you said that I was mad. If you were on the property I probably would have marched up and given you a piece of my mind.”

That was something at least. That she’d managed to calm down.

“What made your anger go away?”

“I’m not saying it went away,” she said. “It’s just not as great.”

“Do you even get mad?” he asked. “I should know that, right? Like what to expect.”

“Don’t be funny again. This is serious, Abe. It’s not enough to cause a fight, but I want you to know that I don’t need you to take care of me. I don’t need you to fight my battles.”

He wanted to grind his teeth but didn’t. He rarely lost his temper either and wasn’t sure why he was close to it.

“I’m not fighting your battles. I’m telling you that in the moment I might have said something you don’t agree with, but there was no intent other than to help ease the burdens you were unnecessarily placing on yourself.”

She reared up. “Unnecessary?”

Yep, there was a trigger he didn’t know existed.

“Relax,” he said. “I just did it again. I’m not great with my words.”

“Because so many come out of your mouth all the time,” she said. “And maybe if that didn’t happen, you wouldn’t say things that don’t concern you.”

“Ouch,” he said, his hand going to his heart. “I felt that here.”

“It’s the truth and you know it.”

“Maybe I’ve heard it before. But my heart was in the right place. I mean it, Daphne. It was a crazy day and you didn’t need the added stress of worrying about your job on top of everything else.”

“I know,” she said. “And I appreciate how good Reese and Poppy have been. I even believe they would have been that way if you didn’t say it to them.”

“You know that,” he said. “I didn’t do any harm. How did you even find out? No way Poppy or Reese would say it.”

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