Page 55 of Fight

Annie jumped to her feet and grabbed Lena by the arm, yanking her out of her daze.

“Morgan’s already downstairs with the boys waiting for the Uber,” she reported as she pulled Lena out of her bedroom. “Let’s go!”

Lena's breath came out unevenly as she carefully followed Annie down the old wooden steps of the house and out the front door. It was dusk, just as it had been when Jake had dropped her off the previous night, but instead of a colorful sky and a friendly breeze, the sky was a light gray color and the air felt dense and heavy.

Jake was standing in his driveway next to his truck, and as Lena walked toward him she felt overdressed and insecure. The fear that she might look ridiculous to him started pounding in her veins. But his eyes were wide and his mouth hung open slightly as she approached, so she must have at least gotten the outfit part of today right.

“Hey,” she said quietly as she shifted her unsmiling gaze to the asphalt driveway.

“Hi,” he responded with a start as he reached forward and grabbed her by the hand, which immediately and inexplicably eased some of her worries.

“You look great,” he said as the rough pads of his fingers massaged her palms. She felt like a cat as he massaged her hand. She resisted pressing her face into his body and purring.That would feel so good right now.

“You look great, too,” she said, as a small smile finally hit her face when she got a full look at him. “You got a haircut.”

“Yep,” he said, rubbing his free hand up and down the back of his head bashfully. “I hope you’re happy.” He looked young and boyish with his short hair and ruddy cheeks for all that he was so tall and broad. He was also wearing a clean black t-shirt with no holes in it, she noticed appreciatively.I guess I’m not the only one who dressed up.

“I love it,” she offered. “But I’m going to miss the curls.”

He chuckled and continued looking at her with bright eyes as he rubbed his rough thumb on the inside of her hand softly; Lena gazed into his eyes as they darkened in the fading light.

All day she’d felt like she neededsomethingafter what had happened with Cynthia. Usually getting lost in her art did the trick, but today it hadn’t given her the full reassurance that it normally did. Apparently what she’d been missing was a hand massage by Jake. The warm glow in her faltered as she recalled that her Lake Conrad days were numbered—she better not get used to this.

“You two quit flirting and get in the car.” Lena looked over from Jake to see Morgan hanging out of the Uber.

“C’mon,” Jake said as he removed his hand from hers and laid his warm fingers on her bare back leading her to the Uber with a tight smile. Lena flashed a grateful look at him and let him lead her to the car.

She just had to make it through tonight, right? Just make it through the evening without mentioning that she’d been fired, that she would have to leave Lake Conrad, and that she would never see him again. Lena smothered her fear and anxiety, as she slid into the SUV next to Jake and willed a sense of calm complacency. See? Fine. Easy-peasy.

Something was wrong with Lena. Jake noticed it as soon as he’d seen her that evening. She’d walked toward him in the gray evening light with a drawn face, radiating a despondent energy.

She’d been absolutely silent in the car. Morgan and Annie had laughed and talked excitedly as they tried to engage with her, while Jake had stared worriedly at her, and Ian stared out his window silently overthinking something or the other. He was probably the only one not overly concerned with Lena’s attitude.

She looked beautiful in her short silky dress that hugged her curves tightly, but her sadness gave her an empty look that he wasn’t used to seeing from her.

They were sitting across from each other at the same table that they’d sat at the last time they were at the Blue Sky. Lena was perched on the bench with her back to the bar, looking into her wine glass and smiling absently whenever anyone said anything that required a reaction out of her.

Despite feeling like he should know better, Jake was annoyed. They’d just spent an amazing couple of days together, and he’s been looking forward to picking up where they’d left off. But Lena hadn’t decided to grace him with that side of her today, instead giving him the sulky, secretive side that he found so difficult to read. Looking at her harshly from across the table, he decided he would have to be one to break the ice.

“How was work today?” he asked curtly, his eyes settling on her after shifting between Morgan and Cole Sutton. Cole was setting up his instruments in his corner and the twangs of his guitar tuning rose about the low sounds of the crowd. Jake felt torn between probing Lena as to why she was so sullen, and keeping an eye on Morgan to make sure she didn’t piss Cole off—as she was wont to do.

Her eyes widened and all the color drained from her face in response to his question. She looked into her wine glass and started blinking furiously before she looked up at him like a deer in headlights. “It was fine.” She let out the words with a single breath.

Jake looked at her for a couple beats. The music and laughter of everyone around them faded into the background as he watched her run her finger over the rim of her wine glass. She was pouting about something and damned if he knew what it was.

“You’re really bad at this, you know?” He took a long sip of his beer and looked at her accusingly over the rim.

Her head shot up with a sharp, hurt look on her face that quickly faded into a scolding frown.

“At what?” she pressed, her voice rising, and her eyebrows drawing down in disapproval.

“At pretending like you’re fine,” he said, ignoring her rising outrage as his blood thrummed in celebration—at least he finally got some kind of emotion out of her other than silent sadness. “You’re not fine. You’re pouting about something. What’d I miss?”

She looked like she wanted to argue with him for a second before she let out a deep breath and moved her hand from her glass to the table as she started tracing the grain of the wood. She shook her head back and forth furtively as her eyes welled with tears.

“This isn’t about you, Jake,” she mumbled under her breath. “But you’re right, I’m not fine,” she said to her hand, a tear slipping down her cheek. “I had a really, really bad day, okay? Can we just leave it at that?”

“No, we can’t. What happened?” he asked quietly as guilt seeped into him. Maybe something bad had really happened. Was he being too hard on her? But before she could answer, a loud thump settled next to him on the bench.

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