Page 10 of Flare Up
“Not really,” he said. “I hang out with Gavin and Cait sometimes. Or go out with the other guys once in a while. Hockey games and whatnot. I took a little time off and went home to visit my parents for a bit.”
She looked down at her plate, but he caught a glimpse of her face before she did and he knew she’d guessed he’d gone home to his mom and dad after their breakup.
“So that’s about it,” he said with a light tone, wanting the smiling version of Wren back.
“I’m so glad Derek and Olivia got married. They’re a nice couple, and I adored his daughter. She’s a reader, like me.”
“They almost didn’t make it. They broke up for a little while.” He stabbed a mushroom with his fork a little harder than was necessary. “But they worked through their issues and got through it. Together.”
He heard her fork clatter on her plate. “Grant, I—”
“I’m sorry.” He forced himself to look up at her. “I’m trying.”
“I know. And I appreciate it. I really do, because it’s hard and I can’t even imagine how much harder it is for you.”
“Sitting here with you is harder than I thought it would be.” He shook his head and laid down his fork because he’d lost his appetite. “I’ve missed you.”
“I’ve missed you, too. Every day.”
“I can’t... I don’t know what to do here, Wren. I can’t just walk away from you.” He blew out a breath as he shoved a hand through his hair. “But I can’t forget what happened, either. I don’t know what to do.”
* * *
Forgive me.
That’s what Wren wanted for him to do. Desperately. But it wasn’t that simple and she knew it. She had to give him time to process what she’d told him today before she could ask him to let it go. And she could keep giving him the truth.
“I don’t know if it helps any, but I wasn’t afraid Ben could beat you up. I was afraid you’d...” She let the words die away because she didn’t know how to explain it. And it probably wouldn’t help.
“You were afraid I’d blame you like your brother did and throw you out of my life.” Apparently her expression and the sudden film of tears in her eyes were answer enough because he sighed deeply. “I can’t believe you thought I’d do that to you.”
“I didn’t really think at all. I just reacted.”
He looked at her without blinking, his dark gaze locked on her with such intensity, she wasn’t sure she could move even if she’d wanted to. “I’m not going to be able to stay away from you.”
But... She was quiet, waiting for it.
“I cared about you too much to let you go through this alone.” There was that painful past tense again. “But I’m not okay. I don’t know how to describe it any better than that. I’m not okay.”
“I understand.” She didn’t bother to tell him she was a big girl and could take care of herself. He knew that, but he’d still be compelled to check on her. He took care of the people who were important to him.
“You were so reserved and, even once we got to know each other, I knew you were always holding something back. And now I know what it is and you don’t have to hold anything back from me. I want to get to know the Wren who doesn’t have any secrets from me.”
His words were like a rainbow at the end of a long, rainy day. A faint rainbow, but there nonetheless. But there were still dark clouds in the sky, throwing a shadow across that little beam of hope.
“When I woke up and realized the building was on fire, I was afraid it was Ben,” she said in a thin voice. “I’m still afraid he found me and he’s coming after me. I need you to know that.”
He nodded. “If he’d just been a controlling jerk with anger control issues, he probably wouldn’t have called you when he got out of prison. Assuming he didn’t call from inside.”
“He’s out. He was probably out before we started dating, but he either hadn’t found me yet or hadn’t gotten mad enough to look. I was able to find out he’s definitely been let out of jail, though nobody official would give me any more information than that. And I was afraid to call any of our mutual acquaintances and give him more to go on if he was looking for me.”
“Good call. After you changed your number, you got no more calls from him?”
“No. And now I’ll probably get another number, since I don’t have a phone anymore.”
“We can pick one up today.” He took a sip of his coffee, and she could tell by the way his eyebrows furrowed that he was thinking, so she kept quiet. “It’s really unlikely he was responsible for that fire.”
“I know that logically, but I guess fear isn’t always logical.”
