Page 67 of Mine

My eyes found hers. “Because I see you.”

Her eyebrows pulled together, her mouth twisting in thought. She didn’t move, she didn’t answer me. I stepped closer, bringing the space between us down to one foot. She tipped her chin higher, refusing to break her stare.

“No, you don’t,” she said. “No one sees me.”

“I do. I see it in your eyes.”

“What do you see in my eyes?”

“I see that you’re living a life you don’t want. A life you don’t deserve.”

She stepped back, walking backward until her foot reached the curb. She stopped and unraveled her arms, her eyes softening. “You don’t know what I deserve and what I don’t.”

Then, she turned around and disappeared into the dark.

That night was the first night of many. Slowly, over time, she started showing up to the restaurant every night after closing. I could tell that for her, I was an escape. I was the only one she felt she could bear her soul to, without judgment.

I’m thinking back to the night Lena and I met as we sit out on the back patio, the warm sun bearing down on us. Lena’s eyes light up as she stares at her phone. It’s a similar light to the kind I had seen on her that night outside Bar Americano.

“Okay.” I sigh, pulling up the security app. The contractor who works for the security company just finished installing our cameras and I’m showing Lena how to operate the app.

“So, if you press this button, it’ll bring up the main camera located over our front door. See?” I hold her phone out to her, showing her how it’s recording in real time.

“How do you see the other cameras? How many did you say there were?” She pulls in her bottom lip, tucking it underneath her teeth.

“There are three outside and four inside. The outside ones are over the front and back doors and one is over the garage.”

“Okay.” I can feel Lena’s body relax. We’re sitting on our back patio. She’s sitting in my lap, her arm draped across my shoulders.

I show her the rest of the app and how to switch between cameras. I already felt more secure than I had ever felt inside our house. There was no way Julian could try to break in undetected.

Lena sets her phone down on her lap and rests her free hand on my cheek. The stubble lining my jaw grates against her soft skin. “Thank you for installing these,” she whispers. “I feel a lot safer.”

I stare into her eyes, getting lost in them. I think back to that night she surprised me outside Bar Americano. It was the first time I had heard her speak, her voice filtering over me like silk.

“I want you safe.”

“With you, I’ve always been safe.” She gives me a small smile.

I lift my hand and wrap it around the back of her head, pulling her down to me. She places her lips on mine, opening her mouth, allowing my tongue to caress hers.

She places her hand against my chest, gently pulling herself back.

“Why did you stop?” I ask her.

“Because you have to go to work.” She laughs.

“You’re right.” I groan, tilting my head back. The sun peeks through the wooden slats of our pergola. I squeeze my eyes shut, the rays warming my face.

I still had to talk to Natalie. It had been two days since I’d confronted her on the sidewalk outside the restaurant the other night. Her worried face has haunted me, telling me there was more going on with her than I knew.

Lena runs her fingers through my hair, gently pulling me back to face her.

“I have to leave for Abby’s office in a few anyway.”

“Are you still planning on asking her why she told Max she’s in a relationship?” Lena had told me about how she had run into Max at her office yesterday. Seeds of doubt took root in my brain. Whether it was Max or Abby, someone wasn’t telling the truth. My stomach was constantly upturned, nervous to find out the truth. I didn’t know whether Natalie held the answers, but I had to at least try.

“I think so.” Lena’s eyes pool with worry. Fear is embedded in them, darkening her pale brown eyes to a deep mahogany shade.

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