Page 50 of Brood
I wait in our quarters for almost two hours, but Will never shows up. At four, I return to the kitchen for my work shift, and he doesn’t arrive to summon me into the hallway for even a quick update on the appointment the way he did one other time.
No one has heard of any emergency happening on our level that would keep him busy all afternoon.
Maybe he did forget.
Maybe I’ve been inflating my place in his life.
Maybe I’m not very important to him.
Bleak thoughts, but they don’t go away even as I struggle to focus on making protein-block stew even slightly more appetizing.
The protein tastes different again today. A trivial incongruity that bothers me unduly.
My shift is over, and I’m at the dinner table with Bella and her spouse, Trevor, when Will finally makes an appearance. He comes bursting through the dining room doors, searches the tables quickly, and then strides toward me.
He’s tense. I can see it in the set of his shoulders and his jaw despite his typically unrevealing expression.
He slides onto the bench next to me and says in a hoarse murmur, “I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine.” I make myself smile at him even though it might tear my face in two.
“No, it’s not. I couldn’t get away. How was it?”
He’s speaking softly, and only Bella is watching, but I don’t want to have this conversation in public. “It was fine.”
“Cadence, tell me?—”
I make a face and a hushing gesture. I’ve barely gotten control of emotions, and now his urgent questions are an attack. A bombardment. I can’t talk to him right now. Not in front of most of Level One.
Chief Brody is sitting beside Dr. Cameron at the chiefs’ table. Both of them are looking at me—as if I might have been the topic of conversation. I hate that their eyes are on me. I want to hide and can’t.
Will makes a frustrated sound but visibly bites back an argument. He scowls as he rushes through his meal.
Bella helps out by asking Tara a question about the kind of food they ate on Level Two.
I try to keep up with my part in the discussion, although Will doesn’t participate at all. He’s not happy, but neither am I.
When I’ve emptied my plate, he scoops up the last of his stew in a final mega-sized bite and stacks my bowl on his to carry them over to one of the dirty-dish carts.
Then he returns to our table, leans over to take my elbow, and pulls me to my feet. He uses a hand in the middle of my back to get me walking out of the dining room and into the hallway toward our quarters.
I comply automatically. Partly because I’ll never make a scene, and partly because I need to talk to him eventually.
“Cadence!” The voice is female and slightly breathless. Bella has come after us.
I turn back.
She shoots Will a wary look. “If you want to hang out, I’m free this evening.”
Despite my rising anxiety, my heart softens at the offer. She’s trying to give me an out. An escape. In case Will is bullying me into something I don’t want to do.
“I’m okay,” I tell her, only a slight wobble in my tone. “I need to talk to Will. It’s really all right.”
I know without doubt that Will would never hurt me, and I’ve assured Bella of this more than once. But he looks kind of rough and impatient right now.
Bella is trying to help.
“Okay,” she says with one more look at Will.
