Page 46 of Pulse
“Why, Mr. Castelli. Aren’t you just a surprise?”
I ignore her and take out two plates.
“Sorry for falling asleep earlier,” she says. “I was waiting for you to come back because I didn’t want to interrupt your call. The next thing I know, I wake up to the smell of oregano … or whatever it is.”
“I’m glad you got some rest. You needed it.”
“Have you heard from Ford?”
I fix our plates, grabbing a piece of garlic bread for each of us, before sitting next to her at the counter. She hops up and grabs two bottles of water from the refrigerator.
“He called a little while ago,” I say, watching her move gracefully through the kitchen. “He said they’re sorting through things, and he’ll let us know when he knows more.”
I consider telling her what they found in her house and car but decide against it. We don’t have any answers right now, and without a resolution, it might only make things worse for her. If I can’t do anything else, I can shoulder the information on her behalf.
She hands me a bottle. “We might be here a while, huh?”
“Maybe.”
She nods thoughtfully. “Then I want to say something to you.”
“Shoot.”
“About earlier, in the closet …”
Her eyes are clear and alert. Her features are smooth and calm. She doesn’t look perturbed or regretful, nor does she look upset with me. All good things.
“Dahlia, let me go first.”
“Be my guest.”
I take a breath and turn to face her. “That was on me. All of it. And I’m a prick for doing it. There are so many reasons it waswrong to almost kiss you that I wouldn’t know where to start. Please accept my apology and know it won’t happen again.”
“Well, damn.”
“Well, damn?”
She sighs, twirling her fork into her pasta. “You’ve complicated things.”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
“Not like that.”
“Then how?”
She sets the fork down on the side of her plate, watching me out of the corner of her eye. I’m not sure what she’s going to say. The woman’s unreadable. But my heart pounds relentlessly, anyway, bracing for a turn in our relationship that I can’t repair. I can’t do anything to ruin that. I can’t risk losing someone so important in my life.I won’t.
“Iwas going to say that I didn’t want it to make things weird between us,” she says. “We’ve both had a wild day, and emotions got the best of us.”
“You think?”
“Don’t you?” She turns on the stool to face me head-on. “I was going to say that the moment in the closet was the realest thing I’ve felt in a long time. And it felt good, it was a relief, to finally pretend that’s not what we want to do every time we’re together.”
What?
“I was pissed that you answered the phone, but I could’ve forgiven you,” she says. “But now I know you think it was a giant mistake, so it’s complicated.”
“You can’t possibly think crossing that line was smart.”
