Page 63 of Derailed
She doesn’t move to take a step forward and neither do I, but I notice how her shoulders shrug at her response. “Aren’t we a pair? That’s what I came for,too.”
“Want me to leave?” I don’t want to go, and maybe she can hear that in my voice, but since she didn’t come out here looking for me, I feel I owe her thespace.
“No.” She exhales a raspy breath. “No. Actually, I think I could use thecompany.”
“Sit?” I rest back against the cushions of the largest sofa and pat the open space next tome.
“Thanks.” She sits back into the corner and tucks her legs underneath her body. She crosses her arms over her chest, and by her posture I can tell something has changed between the time she left to go upstairs and now. Maybe Coy wasn’t lying. Maybe she doesn’t feelwell.
“Rough afternoon?” Curiosity and the need to make her feel better pushes the question from mymouth.
Jess tilts her head back and takes in the sky before leveling me with a gaze I can’t see from the shadows. “More than that.” Another exhale, one that whooshes with all of her breath, but her shoulders remain rigid and tense. I don’t know what’s weighing her down, but I want to findout.
“Lucky for you, I know just the remedy.” The idea hits me like a ton of bricks, and I’m thankful for the darkness because I’m sure my smile makes me look like a lunatic. Deb’s words echo in the back of my head, both with warning and direction. Jess needs to let go. To be herself. Like the smiling, singing girl I witnessed in the car this morning, she needs the freedom to be herself. Safe and out from under Coy’sthumb.
“Oh, you own a time machine?” Her snarky comeback makes melaugh.
“Nah, but my way won’t break any space timecontinuums.”
She tilts her head, drops her arms from her waist, and leans forward. “I’m afraid to ask, but what do I have to lose?” A laugh void of humor passes her lips, but when she speaks again her tone is full of determination. “What exactly do you have in mind,Sean?”
This might be a horrible idea. In fact, I’m most certain it is. But outside on this beautiful night with Jess sitting a few feet away, I just can’t seem to care. “Why, Jess, I’m so glad youasked.”
