I couldn’t seem to control the edge in my voice. “It’s not an option. I’m making the decision.”
She rolled her eyes. “If you think I’m going to be controlled by you, you can think again.”
“I don’t want to control you.” I didn’t even try to hide my exasperation. “I want to protect you.”
That stopped her. “I don’t want to live like this.”
“I’m just trying to keep you alive.”
“This is no way to live.”
“Unfortunately, right now, it’s your only option.”
She grabbed her bowl and a banana and started to head up the stairs.
“Where are you going?”
“To my room.”
For some reason I didn’t understand, the fact that her dinner was cereal in a dark house pissed me off further.
I think I was angry at myself, but I found myself taking it out on her. “You need to learn to cook, you know.”
She stopped on the stairs and slowly turned around. “Excuse me?”
“I’m not saying it because you’re a woman. Cooking is a life skill.”
“Oh, yeah?” she lifted her chin. “How many meals have you cooked since we moved in?”
The truth annoyed me. “I’ve obviously been working.”
“Well, since you have this awesome life skill that I seem to be missing, maybe you should come home for dinner and teach me how to do it.”
I didn’t know how to cook and we both knew it. “Point taken.”
She studied me with a perplexed expression. “If you want me to learn to cook, I will. But why do you care if you’re never home to eat it? Besides, I find meals lonely by myself.”
She was taking this conversation to a place I didn’t want to go. I felt my anger drain out of me. “My comment was uncalled for.”
“I don’t want security,” she tried again.
“I know,” I admitted. “But it’s nonnegotiable.”
“Love that for me.” And then she quietly disappeared into her room with her cereal.
After a coupleof hours of working from home, I got a text.
Giselle: Can we meet? 10 pm at Golden Lotus restaurant. Important
I was loath to leave Mila on her own, especially so late at night. I tapped on her door, which was slightly ajar, but there was no answer.
I stepped inside her room to find her curled up asleep on her bed. Her dark hair cascaded over her pillow, and her hands were tucked under her head. She looked too trusting as she slept. I’d convinced myself that staying away from her would keep her safe, but that distance hadn’t protected her. Watching her sleep, I understood too late that I had already failed her because someone had let me know tonight that she was on their radar.
Giselle was already sitting alonein a booth at the back of the restaurant. Her light hair was pinned up and tucked beneath a hat, and she was sipping on green tea and focusing on the menu.
I sat down across from her.
She gave me a smile. “Thanks for coming on such short notice. Did you want to eat?”
