Page 5 of Flare Up
That was the thought that had kept her in the city, working her ass off to pay the outrageous rent on a crappy apartment while saving for something better. Even as she faced knowing he’d only be safe if she left, she couldn’t imagine living the rest of her life without seeing him again. Maybe if she had a little time, she could come up with a way to make her problem disappear and then she could tell him everything.
Maybe he would have forgiven her and even loved her again.
Now she knew differently. The look he’d given her after handing her into the ambulance was seared into her memory already and it broke her heart all over again.
“I don’t think you really wanted to leave Grant,” Cait said in a low voice. “You should have talked to him, Wren. No matter what it was, you should have told him because he loved you.”
Loved. Would there ever come a time that past tense wouldn’t hurt?
“Okay, it’s late,” Cait said when Wren didn’t have an answer for her. “Get some rest and things will look better in the morning.”
Once Cait had turned off the lights and gone into her bedroom, Wren stretched out on the couch and pulled the soft blanket over her. She didn’t expect sleep to come easily, especially with the coughing, but it had been a long, cold, scary night and feeling safe and warm knocked her out.
She woke up when the front door closed. It was light enough for her to see Gavin, and he closed the door as quietly as he could, but she’d been sleeping even lighter than usual in the months since she’d gotten the phone call from Ben.
He looked in her direction and winced. “Sorry. I tried to be quiet.”
“I was awake anyway,” she lied to make him feel better. Her throat was dry and scratchy, and her voice was hoarse.
“You doing okay?” He kept his voice low, probably to avoid waking Cait, so he walked closer as he spoke.
“I’m fine.” That seemed to be her life now.
You doing okay?
I’m fine.
Nothing could be farther from the truth, but she knew if she opened the door to any of the people in Grant’s life, they’d come charging through and she didn’t want anybody else to worry about.
“Thank you for letting me crash here,” she said. “I hope it didn’t cause you any problems. With Grant, I mean. I assume you told him.”
“I had to tell him. That’s not the kind of thing I could keep from him.” He shrugged. “It’s not a problem. I mean, you aren’t just some woman Grant used to date. You’re Wren. We know you and we’re not just turning our backs on you because...you broke up.”
Because you turned your back on Grant and broke up with him in the most hurtful way possible. “Thank you.”
The bedroom door opened and Cait poked her head out. “Hey, good morning.”
To give Cait time to welcome her guy home, Wren got up and went into the bathroom. She didn’t rush, giving them a few minutes to talk, so by the time she was done, the apartment smelled like coffee.
“Do you want some coffee?” Gavin asked while she folded the blanket and set it neatly on the pillow.
“Yes, please. Black is fine.”
She could tell by the way Cait looked at her as she sipped that they’d talked about her while she was in the bathroom and they had something to tell her she probably wasn’t going to like.
They let her have a few sips of her coffee—which tasted like heaven even if it was a little hot for her throat after the smoke and coughing—before Gavin broke the news. “Grant’s going to stop by in about an hour.”
“Oh.” Wren set the coffee mug on the table because the liquid contents made it too obvious her hands were trembling. “I can be gone by then. I’ll just—”
“He’s coming to see you,” he said. “Well, he’s coming to drop off a few things you’d left at his apartment, anyway. Not much, I guess. But he thought you might want it.”
So he wasn’t actually coming to see her. He just wanted to return a few things, though at this moment, she couldn’t remember anything she’d left at his place.
“I thought Cait and I would go get some breakfast somewhere. Give you two some privacy.”
Privacy for what? Wren didn’t feel strong enough to bear the weight of whatever anger and resentment Grant needed to get off his chest. Maybe he’d demand answers and she wasn’t sure she was ready to give him any.
If Ben set that fire...
