Page 93 of Bad Wolf

Dream Girl: Oh

Dream Girl: Well okay then, I’ll be ready

Me: No you won’t, but I’ll see you soon

Wren will never be ready on time. That’s why the reservation is actually booked for eight. It might have been nearly seven years, but I’d bet my Baur deal on her running late.

I return Troy’s text and plug my phone in to charge, then head for my closet.

CHAPTERTWENTY-TWO

KNOX

Wren sitsacross the softly lit booth of the Italian place Callan told me about. Well, I say told like he offered up any more information than a grunt, the name of the place, and a nod of his head.

She looks beautiful tonight with her hair loose and wild. Pretty eyes shining almost golden from the way the overhead lamp warms everything under it. They sparkle as she rambles on about a piece of work she and Anna have been diligently pouring over the past week or so.

I take a sip of water from the high ball glass the waiter rushed over with when he placed our menus down, and broach the subject that hangs thick in the air.

I know we need to navigate through this part.

We need a frank,clothedconversation without any distractions.

Even if it’s painful.

So I clear my throat and reach for her soft hand across the table. It looks tiny in mine.

“I think we should start at the beginning. Get those first few days after it happened out of the way.”

Her eyes close and her breath catches. “It hurts to even think about those days,” she says barely above a whisper.

“I want to know, Wren. We have to do this. You said so yourself and I’m done fucking this all up.”

She blows out a breath in an effort to collect herself and I brace for this gut-wrenching conversation.

She sips her water and then places the glass back down, running her free hand over the crisp white linen of the tablecloth, fidgeting. Delaying.

She expels another breath, closes her eyes, and then, “When I got home from the party, my dad was still awake and I begged him to take me away. He didn’t fight it. In fact, looking back, I think it was relief I saw wash over his face. There wasn’t a single corner I could have turned in that town without being crushed by our memories and he agreed that it was probably safer for us to start over.”

My thumb moves back and forth over the delicate skin of her hand while she recounts the start of six years wasted.

“We spent most of that night loading up the car and were on the road before dawn. I didn’t ask where we were going, don’t even think he knew. I was just kind of…numb. With every mile we put behind us, my heart tugged, and by the time we’d traveled into the next state it had practically stopped beating. The rest of the journey is kind of a blur. I just watched my life fade away right in front of me. No college, no hockey games, no dance tryouts, no degree. No nothing. I had nothing. There were no more lists to make and check off. No vision board to stare at. No welcome week, or orientation. There wasn’t going to be a night where we poured over your upcoming season and we merged our college lives.”

Having to listen to this is total bullshit.

Hearing how the one person who, other than me, was supposed to protect her and did nothing but rip her away from me.

Compel her to do the unthinkable, and throw her fucking future down the drain. I can’t hear it. And yet I force myself to stay present. Force myself to do the right thing.

“What did he do about work?” I can’t even bring myself to call him her dad right now.

I despise the man, and not for the first time in the past week, I imagine what would happen if I saw him again.

“Your guess is as good as mine. I have no idea what happened after he used up his vacation days. I don't think I’ve seen him wear a tie since he came over to your house to take our prom pictures.”

The waiter enters my periphery and I wave him off without so much as looking up. Rude, sure, but I’ll make it up to him with a big tip. We’re nowhere near ready to order. We haven’t even looked at the menus properly.

My heart performs another swoop at the look on her face. Deflated. So lost. I get up and move into the stiffly upholstered leather booth beside her.

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