Page 34 of The Maid

"Do you know how much money I'm going to be making off this deal on top of all the money I already have?"

"What the hell does that have to do with me?"

“You’re not fucking listening to me,” he said, louder. “I want you. All of you. Not just in secret. Not hiding. I’ll talk to Kellerman and Wayne and the entire Goddamn NFL, if I have to. They'll understand. You’re just using work as an excuse not to commit to me. To us!”

“What? No. Things are great. Why risk being hurt.” As soon as she said it, it was obvious she regretted it.

“I wouldn't hurt you. Isn't it worth risking a life together? Love? You're stuck on the past and you're not moving forward." He ran his hand through his hair. “Jesus, Addie!” He stood up. “Maybe I should just go home. Maybe you need to think things through. Alone.”

“No. Don’t go,” She got on her knees and reached for him. “Please, stay. I’ll try. I don’t know how much I can give you, but for you, I’ll try.”

He looked at her for a moment, frustration surely lining his face before he got back into bed and for the first time since reconnecting, he saw the look of fear on her face. How had he not noticed before? She was truly scared of losing herself again. It was clear as day. He needed to show her, that he wasn't going anywhere.

When Addie woke up the next morning, Gun was already gone. He'd left a note that said he had some errands to run which was odd since he’d never left before her and was always so eager to spend time together. She had been so harsh that evening. It was obvious he wanted more but she wasn't sure she could give him more. She got dressed and went home with a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach.

She didn’t want to seem needy, but at some point, around mid-day she broke down and sent him a text.

ADDIE: I came home to do some work.

GUN: OK. See you later.

It was short and curt. But he was a short and curt texter.

After she finished working, she spent the rest of the day cleaning her apartment. She was starting to panic when it was seven in the evening and he had not called or texted her. She wasn’t even sure why she was panicking since she was the one pushing him away. She should be happy he’d finally decided to move on.

As she finished off a huge bowl of ice cream, her phone rang.

"Hey," Gun said. "Sorry I've been MIA."

"It's okay," she lied.

"What've you been up to?"

"Oh nothing. Had a lot of work to catch up on."

"I know you don't like to go out in public and are afraid you'll get caught but I'd very much like to have a late lunch with you tomorrow at The Rustic Dock before I fly out to New York. It's my favorite and you said you loved stone crabs and tomorrow's the last day of claw season."

She thought about it for a moment. The man wanted to go out on a date. They didn't have to be all over each other or anything. If they happened to run into some one, they could always say it was work related. And anyway, she was feeling that something was off and even though she didn't want to feel like the girl that chased the guy, she didn't want to lose him even though she didn't really know what exactly they were.

“You promised me you’d try,” he added.

"I know and yes, sure, I’ll go."

"Great. So, I'll pick you up around two."

"Oh, uh, so you're not coming over tonight."

She heard noises in the background. "No, sorry. Can't tonight. I'm with George he had an emergency and I can't leave him right now," he said, but she was sure she heard laughing in the background.

"Oh..…well...um. Okay. Hope George's fine."

"Yeah. He’s fine. Good night, baby."

"Good night Gun."

She stared at her phone for too long full of questions and unease.

8

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