Page 89 of Ordinary Girl

“Hey. What you doing here?”

“You’re not pleased to see me?”

“I’m always pleased to see you. I just assumed you’d want a quiet night after the store opening.”

“Well, that’s what I had planned, but…” She lets that sentence tail off, her gaze shifting for a moment before she brings it back to me, her smile reappearing. “I got bored. Dag and Freya are out, and I didn’t much fancy being alone. But, if you’re busy…?”

“No, I’m done here.”

“Did the meeting go okay?”

I’m not telling her what’s going on. Nobody except those involved can know, it’s safer that way. “Yeah. Let’s go outside.” I take her hand and we head out into the compound.

“Is everything alright?” she asks, her smile replaced by a frown. She’s too good at reading me now.

“Everything’s fine. It’s just been a long day.” We sit down at one of the tables outside, she’s still eyeing me slightly warily and that’s making me nervous. Jesus, everything’s making me fucking nervous these days, what the fuck is wrong with me?

“Don’t lie to me, Joel.”

See? Too fucking good… “I don’t know if I’m ready to take over, Ana.” I look her right in the eyes. “It’s all happening too fast. Everything’s happening too fast.”

“Are you including us in that?” She has a slight smile on her face when she asks that, which makes me smile, too. The fact that she can lighten a mood that’s threatening to darken pretty quickly, after what she’s been through, is testament to the woman she’s become. The woman we turned her into…?

“You are the one thing – the one person who’s keeping me sane.”

She drops her gaze, but she’s still smiling. “Yeah. I know what you mean.” She sighs quietly, and she’s tense, it’s obvious.

“Areyoualright?” Because I’m kind of getting the feeling that there’s something she wants to tell me. Something to do with me asking her to move in…?

She nods, puts that smile back on her face and looks at me. “I’m fine.”

I think we’re both lying, but neither of us is in the right frame of mind to question the other one any further, so we’re just going to let it go. Bury our heads in the sand? Maybe. For now.

“If Skip didn’t think you could do it he wouldn’t have made you his V.P., Joel.”

“I can do the job, Ana, I’m just – the timing feels off, that’s all.”

She reaches for my hand, her fingers wrapping around mine and I can’t explain the rush of calm that sends hurtling through me. “There’s a lot going on. I get that.” She squeezes my hand, and her smile disappears, her expression changing. She seems anxious. “You’re still going to get justice for Mama, aren’t you?” The hope in her eyes is overwhelming, like she’s silently pleading with me. “Because, I don’t know…” She lets go of my hand and sits back, looking around the compound, “it feels like it’s never going to happen.”

“It’s going to happen, Ana.” Sooner than she thinks, but I can’t tell her that. It’s too dangerous. She needs to keep out of it. “Believe me, it’s going to happen.”

Her eyes are back on me. “Do you promise?”

“I promise.” I don’t miss a beat, because she needs to know that what I’m telling her is true. I’m just not giving her details. She doesn’t need to know the details. She doesn’t need to know that her father is also a target for us, because we’re a target for him. We’re going full-on tit-for-tat, because we have to.

“But, that’s it, huh? That’s all you’re telling me?”

She doesn’t need me to answer that. “Did that car come back? After I left the store?”

She shakes her head, and I think she knows as well as I do that it’s her father. That car, it’s his doing. He’s watching her. He’s watching all of us. But two can play at that game…

“Listen, Ana, what I said before… what I asked you, at the store, about moving in with me…” I take a breath, just a second to give myself time to make sure I mean what I’m saying. But, you know, like I said, life’s too fucking short… “I meant it.”

Her eyes brighten, the tension that was evident before has just dissipated. But then she pulls it back, dampens down that smile, like she’s trying not to look too happy about what I’ve just said. But she is, happy. Fuck it! So am I.

“So, what do you say? Do you want to move in with me?”

“I… yes! Of course I do, just, not yet, Joel. Not straightaway.”

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