“Why on earth not?”
Be cool, man.
“Because!”
“Becauseisn’t really an answer. Why shouldn’t I have done this for my wife and son? These are your things. Doesn’t seem like enough after doing nothing for four years.”
I took a deep breath, turning away to hide the depths of my agitation at her response. Hadn’t this woman figuredout that I loved her yet?
When I looked back at her, her eyes immediately fell to my mouth. I’d cleaned the blood off my chin and hands, but there was still some on my shirt. My bottom lip was split on the side and the surrounding area was a little purple. She jerked my chin towards her, surveying it. “Oh mygosh. Did you and Chris fight?”
Despite her horror, I smiled. “Oh yeah.”
“That looks awful!”
“You should see him.”
She released my face, frowning. “You’re doing too much for me.” She turned and looked back to Richard’s garden and tucked her head again. “I—I wish you would just stop.”
Stop?
The wind left my sails. Felt my shoulders sag.
“I was trying to do something nice, Miranda.”
“You’re treating me like we are…”
Her words trailed off, her lips frozen in speaking position, as the worried expression melted. Her gaze locked on something beyond my face.
Ah. The ring.
She blinked several times and her lips trembled. “Jack, why are you?—”
“Come on, Dack! Get my toys!” Kacey screamed.
“Just”—she waved me off, turning her head so I wouldn’t see her tears spill—“let’s just get all this out.”
Way past Kacey’s bedtime, Miranda’s soft voice called down the stairs. “Jack?”
I sat up, jerked out of my slight doze. I’d been watching abaseball game on mute with subtitles—kind of dumb. It was a recipe for spending the night on the couch, but sometimes I just needed a silent distraction.
“Yeah?”
“You up?”
“I’m sitting on the couch.”
She came down, her footsteps nearing the back of the couch. I tipped my head backward. “You good?”
“Just wanted to talk to you for a minute.”
I straightened up a little and clicked off the TV. She’d avoided me ever since I got home and insisted we not unpack anything. Said we shouldn’t waste the time.
Felt pretty low the rest of the day.
“Everything okay?”
She prepared to sit on the opposite side of the couch as I patted the cushion beside me. She paused, a flash of indecision crossing her face. For a moment it looked like she’d come sit beside me. Her feet moved, but she held back and sat far away.
