Page 135 of Wrench
¡°What? No. Samantha, I told you, they¡¯re imposters.¡±
¡°No, I know. But you¡¯re involved in this. You have to fight this. This is what you do.¡±
I bit the inside of my cheek, staring at my lap. ¡°Yeah. I guess it is.¡±
¡°My coworkers are traumatized. I¡¯m traumatized.¡±
¡°I know¡¡± I said, closing my eyes and wishing I could have prevented it somehow.
¡°It¡¯s scary¡¡± she trailed off.
¡°I know, and I¡¯m so sorry for what happened,¡± I pleaded to her. ¡°But it was a
coincidence. We are the people who need to stop them.¡±
¡°I just¡¡± She bit her lip. ¡°I¡¯m not sure¡ if this is worth it. I mean, my dad, what if he
got in the middle of this?¡±
¡°Samantha.¡± My heart dropped. ¡°What are you saying?¡±
¡°Nothing¡ nothing right now, anyway.¡± She wiped a tear from her eyes. ¡°But Isaac, I¡¯m
a boring veterinarian who is usually in bed by midnight on weekends. The threats, the
gun pointing to my freaking head, I just don¡¯t know how much more I can take.¡±
I lowered my head, feeling helpless. My lifestyle was scaring the only girl I¡¯d ever
cared about and there was nothing I could do about it.
Then, Ripper's voice rang through my ears saying, ¡°You¡¯re the VP¡¡± And I knew
exactly what I had to do. Turning back to Samantha, I grabbed her face, planting my lips
on hers. When I pulled away, she looked confused, but pleased.
¡°What was that for?¡± she asked.
¡°I¡¯m going to fix all of this,¡± I said, sounding confident but my insides were squirming
at what was ahead.
¡°How?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t worry. We are going to take care of it, though. Then we can be together like
normal.¡±
Her face lit up and she kissed me again. ¡°Are you sure?¡±
¡°Yeah. I might be busy tonight, but I¡¯ll call you when I can, okay?¡±
When she nodded, we embraced again, but this time I remembered to savor the
lemonade flavor of her lips, how soft her hair was, the feeling of her hands trailing my
forearms. We parted ways, me standing in the parking lot, waving as she disappeared
