Page 35 of Peak of Love
“Oh, yeah, of course,” she said vaguely, waving away the apology.
The boys hugged her and promised to save cookies for when she picked them up tomorrow. “I’ll be there around noon to bring Jonas to tennis.”
They gave a vague acknowledgment of her reminder. It hardly mattered since something else was urgent on her mind.
When they left, she texted Dane.What exactly did you tell Parker today?
Dane:The boys are staying with them overnight, right?
Celina:Yeah.
Dane:Is that a bad thing?
Celina:No, of course not. It was just weird that he said it was your idea.
Dane:You had a long day and Jerome could use extra time to think about his apology.
Celina:Thanks I guess?
Dane:There’s nothing to thank me for.
Celina:Heard you’re leaving for Vancouver tomorrow morning.
Dane:Yup. It’ll take me about a week to wrap up the last build.
Celina:What’s next? Heading to Portland?
If she thought about it too much, Celina might poke holes at her logic. This was perfectly normal chit-chat with an old friend. Why wouldn’t she be marginally interested in the future ventures of innovative real estate companies?
Right.Fine, maybe she didn’t find Dane’s business ventures interesting in the past, but now they were.
Dane:No. I’m staying in Seattle for a while.
Celina:OK.
Three dots appeared and disappeared. Then appeared for a full thirty seconds before disappearing again. Taking a breath that felt a little like barbed wire scraping down her chest, Celina decided she was done with dots. She dialed his number.
“Hi,” he answered after one ring. The smoky depths of his voice affected her more than it should have.
“Why? Why are you staying in Seattle for a while? New project?”
“You know why.”
Now she was just annoyed. First dots, and now elusiveness? She did not have time for dots and elusiveness.
“If I knew why, I wouldn’t be asking.”
His sigh was audible before he offered an answer. “I need to be here for you and the boys. I need to be better. I need to do more.”
“I never asked for that, Dane. I’d never ask that of anyone and you know it.” Now she was more than annoyed. Celina was upset because… because…
“Don’t you dare pity me,” she hissed.
Before she could unleash more damage, she hung up and shut off her phone. For just a few minutes. She needed to be reachable for the boys, but for a few minutes she had to guarantee that she wouldn’t call Dane back to apologize.
Because shewasn’tsorry. She wasn’t exactly surewhatshe was feeling, although she wasn’t sorry.
Less than half an hour later, she heard it. The piercing roar of a motorcycle was amplified by the quiet suburban street. Loudest of all was the silence that reigned on her driveway where that motorcycle stopped.
