Page 35 of Her Braun
Mister Langston reached out and squeezed her hand. "You're so sweet to say that. I’ll see you tomorrow." He turned away and stepped inside.
Once he was inside and she heard the lock on his front door click into place, she felt her whole-body tense up.
"How did you... How did you know?"
She looked up and saw Gibson brush his fingers through his hair.
"It's one of the things I do as a contractor. The police have my name and number in the rotation for service providers at..."
He stopped talking and his lips closed.
"Crime scenes." She said the words and let out another breath. "You mean that you get calls to crime scenes."
Gibson nodded. "We work with the police enough to know what to do and what to leave alone."
He gestured toward the walkway, and she walked ahead of him to the sidewalk.
Once there, Gibson closed the gate behind them. "I boarded up your windows from the outside. I didn't go inside so I wouldn't disturb anything in there."
She nodded. "The detective, I think his name is Rafferty?"
Gibson nodded.
"He wants me to walk through and let him know what's missing. And if there's damage, too."
"You... you want me to go inside with you?"
"Yes." She didn't have to consider that answer. She knew she wanted him at her side while she saw the damage.
"Okay, let's go."
He reached toward her, and she tensed up, her neck and shoulders tightening.
It had been an instinct of hers, not a gesture that she'd meant to do, but she saw the effect it had on Gibson.
He was upset and she didn't blame him.
"Gibson, I'm... I'm sorry."
He shook his head. "You don't have to apologize. You've had a bad shock."
They looked at each other and continued to walk, side by side until they wound their way between her SUV and his construction truck. When they stopped just shy of the steps to her kitchen she looked down to the ground at her feet. "I just don't know what to think," she shook her head feeling how heavy every limb of hers was. Her head felt like it had doubled in weight. "I don't know why anyone would think there's something worth stealing in my house."
"Sometimes it's not about the worth of something, it's just a matter of people wanting to take happiness from someone else. It's hard to say that there are people out there like that."
"But there are," she agreed. "I just... it's never visited me at home before. We've even had thieves come into the hospital and steal all kinds of crazy things, but my house." She drew in a deep breath and let it out. "I feel like I just want to dowse the whole house in bleach and pretend none of this ever happened."
She could feel his gaze on her and it was painful. Physically painful to see the sympathy in his eyes.
"Gibson, I know I asked you to stay here and walk through the house with me, but..." She curled her bottom lip in between her teeth and bit down sharply, hoping the pain would focus her and keep her head on straight. "I think I need to be alone."
She saw the way her words hit him, but as much as she wanted to take it back, the last thing she wanted to do was fall apart in front of Gibson Braun. The man walked through fire on a daily basis. He was a hero!
If she fell to pieces over some broken glass and... whatever else she would find inside, she didn't want to have him witness her tears.
"If you want," she heard how stilted his words were and the start of a tremor in his voice, "I can wait outside while you go through. Just in case you need... something."
She heard the unspoken sentiment in the depths of his tone.In case you need someone.
