Page 53 of The Space Between

“Remember that time we talked at The Black Hole? Down by the water?”

Jeanie’s eyes are darting around like a scared rabbit’s. “Yes,” she says hesitantly. “I remember.”

“And how I told you that I have these…episodes? Where I need to shut myself away from the world and just cope?”

“Okay,” Jeanie says carefully. “Yes. I remember.”

“So? You had to have taken that directly to North. Why did you do that?”

“What are youtalkingabout?” Now Jeanie looks mad. He’s accused her, and her face is flushed bright red with frustration. “Why would I ever do that? I wouldn’t ever do that, Bill.”

“You’re the only person who I’ve ever told about those episodes,” he says hotly. “It had to be you.”

“Well, it wasn’t!” Jeanie says with venom. “It most definitely wasn’t.” The color drains from her face as realization dawns. “Oh, Bill,” she says, her voice dropping to a whisper. She puts her fingers to her lips. “I’m so sorry. I should have come to you with this, but I thought it wasn’t my place. Oh, no.”

Bill’s heart nearly stops. Whatever she’s going to say, he needs to hear it now, without delay, but he also doesn’t want her to tell him at all. “What? What happened?”

Jeanie closes her eyes and holds them that way for a long breath and then opens them. “It was Vance Majors.”

“What was Vance Majors?”

Jeanie blows out a fast, hard breath that makes her cheeks puff. “Vance came to me a while back and said we should talk to North about the way you kind of lost it on the Fourth of July. I’m so sorry, Bill. I didn’t do it, and he never brought it up again. I assumed he just dropped it.”

“But…why?” Bill is asking the question, but not really asking it of Jeanie. “Why would he do that?”

Jeanie’s eyes are wide. “Jealousy, maybe? I’m not sure.”

Bill runs a hand through his hair and then looks at Jeanie’s worried face. It’s clear that she feels terrible about this situation, but it’s obviously not her fault. He isn’t even sure what he might have done in her position, so he can’t fault her for the way she handled it.

“Bill, you don’t know how sorry I am. If something I did or didn’t do got you pulled off this mission, then?—“

“No,” Bill says, reaching out with both hands and cupping her shoulders gently. “This is not your fault. Not at all.”

Jeanie’s eyes fill with tears. “I would never want you to get removed from a mission, and I didn’t think you handled things badly on the Fourth. That was terrible, shocking news,” she says, not meeting Bill’s eye as he continues to hold on to her with both hands. “I’m on your side, Bill,” she says, finally lifting her gaze so that it meets his. “I’m on your side because I think you’re smart, and good at what you do. I think you’re dedicated, and amazing, and…” Her voice trails off as Bill’s eyes land on her soft, pink lips. He watches them move as if in slow motion. “And I care about you.”

There it is: the truth. It’s been the truth in Bill’s heart all along, and now he knows it’s been the truth in Jeanie’s, as well.

He cares about her.

And she cares about him.

CHAPTER 25

Jeanie

The words areout of her mouth before she can stop them: “And I care about you.”

Jeanie’s heart leaps into her throat and she feels that familiar fluttering of nerves, adrenaline, and the tiniest touch of fear. Because now that she’s spoken the words to Bill that she could only stand to say out loud to Steven and Dale while she was drunk, she has to live with them. They exist in the world, and they’re hanging there in the stairwell between her and Bill Booker like a cloud in an otherwise clear blue sky.

“I’m sorry,” Jeanie says, trying to move away from him and down the stairs. Given the chance, she’d turn and bolt for the door without looking back, but he doesn’t let go.

“Don’t be,” Bill says firmly. “Don’t ever be sorry for how you feel, Jeanie.” He looks into her eyes with a burning intensity that makes Jeanie’s knees buckle; she’s never been this close to a man who has made her feel this way.

“I guess I’m not sorry for how I feel, but I am sorry that I said it. It complicates things for you.” Jeanie blinks in astonishment that she’s finally admitted her feelings to Bill. “It complicates things for me, too.”

There is the sound down below of someone taking the stairs from the first to the second floor—in through the bottom floor, up a flight of stairs, and out again—and once the door has slammed shut, they stand again in the echoing silence.

“Would it complicate things less for you if I told you I feel the same way?” Bill asks, finally letting his hands run from her shoulders, down her upper arms, and to her elbows, which he holds lightly. “Would it make it easier for you to know that we’re in the same boat?”

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