Page 35 of Time Stops With You

The contractor bobs his head. “The air conditioning units are enroute now. Per your instructions, I focused heavily on the deliverability over price.”

He nods and walks forward, both hands behind his back and eyes fastened on the work being done on the building.

At that moment, the grumpy contractor turns back and sees me.

“Ms. Davis.” He nods tightly and then scurries off to bark orders at his workers.

The muscles in Cullen’s back stiffen when he hears my name. Slowly, he turns around and faces me like I’m a deranged bear chasing him in the woods.

Warring emotions tear my chest apart. On the one hand, I want to keep the promise I made to him in front of Josiah’s school. The one where I promised to make this his last day if I ever saw him again.

On the other hand…

There’s a very good chance Ronan Cullen is my new landlord.

Which means he now controls whether or not my brother has a roof to sleep under tonight.

I’ve been in this place before, a place where I had to choose between surviving another day or my dignity. Every time, without fail, I chose to survive.

Justonce… I wish I could choose my dignity.

But I can’t.

Not when I think of Josiah.

So I paste a polite smile on my face and approach Ronan Cullen without any obvious signs of aggression. “Mr. Cullen, what are you doing here? What’s going on?”

“I—”

“Mr. Cullen!” A voice that can only be described as ‘nerdy’ rings through the air.

Two men approach us. One is short with a wiry frame and thick black hair. He’s wearing a wrinkled polo shirt, shorts and glasses. The other man is a bit taller with completely white hair, lots of moles on his face, and a sharp chin.

“Dr. Young. Asad.” Cullen nods tightly.

I swing around to take in his uncomfortable expression. Come to think of it, he’d looked exactly that uneasy and stiffwhen I first saw him talking to the principal too. Like he’d rather be miles away from the conversation.

Your lack of emotional regulation is refreshing.

I consider what Cullen said in a new light. Was he just—in the most awkward and offensive way possible—trying to tell me that he feels comfortable around me?

Or am I just inventing reasons to feel sorry for him?

“Who is this?” The older man stops and stares at me.

I speak up before Cullen can call me his ‘fiancée’ again. “I’m Nardi Davis. I live here.”

“Ah. Nice to meet you. I’m Dr. Young. Ms. Davis, I’ve never been this far deep in the southside of town. Erm, would you say this neighborhood is a… quiet one?” Dr. Young glances around as if he expects a shooter to come barreling out of the bushes at any moment.

“It’s a neighbourhood filled with families and hardworking folks, Dr. Young. So yes, I’d say it is.” I glance at Cullen.

He avoids the eye contact.

“What about murders? Have there been any lately?”

What kind of question is that?I pull on the last thread of my patience to say in a sweet voice, “We’re not dodging bullets on a morning run if that’s what you’re asking.”

Dr. Young sighs in relief. “That’s good.”

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