Page 10 of Kali

Chapter Seven

Kali

I’m standing at the cliff edge, breathing in the salt air, my hand wrapped around a hot mug of tea. Lora is standing with me. It’s been a week since Gary showed up. A week of travelling to and from the island so I can file charges, press charges, make statements and find a solicitor who will take my case.

Noah hasn’t been anywhere near me, though I know he texts Lora regularly throughout the day to check up on us.

‘You were wrong,’ I say to her when the wind dies down a little and allows my voice to carry. ‘Noah doesn’t want anything to do with me.’

Why does my heart feel so broken? We shared one night together.

‘He just doesn’t want to scare you or hurt you,’ she says, ‘it makes sense in his head.’

‘It makes none in mine.’

‘Then you need to show him that.’ Lora squeezes my arm and takes my now empty mug before heading back to the house.

I walk into town, towards the station.

‘I’m here to see Detective Gatling,’ I say to Margery. I’m slowly getting to know the entire island once again. Margery has lived here her whole life, met and married Trevor who moved here to be with her and only retired from the force a few years ago once Noah made detective.

‘It’s good to see you, Kali. Are you sure you want to see him?’ she asks with a glance through the open door that leads to Noah’s office. ‘He has been in a vile mood recently,’ she whispers. I laugh, causing her to frown at me, and thank her as she waves me through.

Noah is sitting at his desk, leaning over it and frowning down at something.

‘Hey,’ I say, and he almost leaps from his chair. ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to frighten you.’

‘I wasn’t expecting you,’ he says, standing and gesturing for me to sit in the visitor’s chair. ‘Is something wrong?’

‘No,’ my heart is beating too fast. I don’t know if it’s at the sight of him or because of what I’m about to say. ‘I mean, yes but let me explain.’

He looks at me, confused but patiently waiting for me to get my words together.

‘I would like to take you out for dinner,’ I say, and he raises an eyebrow. ‘I’d like to see where this thing between us could go. If you’re still interested, I mean…’ I’m waffling, but I can’t seem to stop. ‘I understand if you don’t want to.’

‘No.’

Oh.

I give a tight smile that doesn’t reach my eyes before pressing my lips into a line and turning to leave his office.

‘Kali Elizabeth Rhodes.’ I freeze at his use of my full name. ‘I mean, no, I don’t want you to take me out to dinner, I want to take you out to dinner. You can control every other aspect of our relationship but please let me pay for our date nights.’

I turn to face him.

‘And let me use your full name whenever I want to, since I’ll never ask you to marry me, no matter how much I want it.’ I round the desk and take her face in my hands. ‘Because I want it so damn much that not a lot of anything else makes sense to me anymore.’

‘Deal,’ I say, finding his terms reasonable.

‘Dinner tonight?’ he asks, and I nod.

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