Page 78 of Wild Justice

She was bustling around in the kitchen, pulling the items they’d purchased at a nearby store out of the refrigerator and placing them on the counter.

“That sounds good.”

She wasn’t looking him in the eye. She was pretending to be busy, and it was all his fault.

Some people would ignore the rising tension between them until it would eventually fade after some time.

Kai wasn’t one of those people.

He was the type that liked to air out any grievances, bring it all to light, so they could move on from whatever it was. He believed Lulu was like that as well. He was going to find out shortly.

“I’m sorry about earlier,” he said. “It’s none of my fucking business. I just wanted you to know how amazing you are. You are, Lulu. You don’t have to keep paying for your sins when you were younger.”

She froze, and he watched her take a shuddering breath before finally looking up at him.

“I’m sorry, too. It’s just?—”

She broke off, shaking her head as if what she had to say wasn’t worth saying. He was sure that it was.

“It’s just?” he prompted. “What’s on your mind, babe? I’m here. I’m listening. I care.”

Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say, because Lulu burst into tears, her shoulders shaking with sobs. Kai immediately went to her side, and she let him pull her into his arms, rocking her back and forth while they stood in the middle of the tiny kitchen. Eventually, the tears subsided, and Lulu sniffled a bit as she took a step back but not out of his embrace.

“I think I might be going crazy,” Lulu finally said. “I don’t know which way is up these days. I’m so confused. And you shouldn’t have to deal with any of this. You’re too patient by far. I wouldn’t blame you if you took off and ran down the mountain back to town.”

That was the last thing on his mind.

“I’m not going anywhere,” he said firmly. “Why don’t we go sit down on the couch, and you can tell me what’s going on. I know you’re upset about Chase and Ben. And Henry. Is there something else?”

The cabin wasn’t large, so it was only a few steps to the living room that was cozy and warm. Kai was planning to light a fire once the sun was down and the temperature dropped. He had visions of them curling up on the overstuffed sofa, sipping wine, and staring at the flickering flames.

“I’m not upset about Chase and Ben anymore. You made a lot of sense about this being between them. I don’t want to be someone who is constantly trying to fix people. Except…”

Her voice trailed off, but Kai knew where this was going.

“You want to fix Henry.”

“Yes,” she sighed. “Sometimes I can see that he’s in so much pain, and there isn’t anything that I can do for him. It hurts me, too.”

“Lulu, you do so much for him,” Kai replied. “You’re his friend. You’re there for him. You care about him. Believe me, that’s more than most people can hope for.”

“He’s hurting himself.”

As far as Kai could see, Henry wasn’t the self-destructive type. He wasn’t racing motorcycles on narrow mountain roads or jumping out of airplanes without a parachute.

“Henry strikes me as a very self-aware person,” Kai replied. “He knows what his actions are doing. He’s actively working on himself. But that’s work he has to do. You can’t do it for him.”

“It’s frustrating,” she said, her lashes still wet with tears. “I don’t like that I can’t make it all better for him.”

“I don’t like that I can’t make you feel better about this either. Now we’re both trying to fix people. We have so much in common.”

That got a watery smile from her, and an elbow in his ribs.

“It’s not just Henry.”

“I figured it was more than that. We can talk about it, if you want to. I don’t want to push.”

“You do want to push,” she retorted.

---