Deep in thought, he just stands there until I arrive at his left side, staring up at him. His eyes are no longer in focus and peering at them closely, there are tears pooling there.
“Do you want to talk about it?” I urge him.
His only response is a slow shake of his head as his eyes close and then his head bows, his lips forming a tight line as if he's trying to fight back his emotions.
Then he shakes his head slowly again, more to himself, as if he's regretting something.
“Did you close the front door?” he asks.
Looking to the front door, I notice that it's ajar. Making my way over there, I close it, hearing it click before I turn my attention back to him on the other side of the house over by the kitchen sink.
“Lincoln?”
“I… am really tired. Thanks for checking on me. I'm fine.”
“I can stay.”
“No, I'm okay.”
“I'm going to stay anyway.”
“Whatever,” he says tiredly, dragging his feet as he makes his way to his room.
When I start to make my way there too, he slams the door.
Turning the knob, I step inside.
When I sit down on the bed it's like he comes alive. “No.”
“Nowhat?”
“Don't. Please get out,” he says with a sadness crossing his eyes.
He won't even look at me.
“What is going on Lincoln? Please just talk to me,” my voice comes out filled with concern.
“Just please, I will but… I mean… I just need some sleep Sarah.”
“Do you know what time it is?” I ask him.
When he doesn't respond I realize that he's completely out of it. “It's after 5:00.”
“Is it really?”
“Yeah. You got to get ready for work.”
“I didn't get a lick of sleep.”
“Well maybe if you weren't up fucking Gabrielle—”
“I'll meet you at work,” he cuts me off.
“Yeah but she said that I could—”
“I'll meet you at work!” he yells.
This man is exhausting. If I didn't have feelings for him, I would not have bothered. Nodding in acquiescence, I stand and take my leave. Hopefully he'll come to his senses. With the kind of nut that he just busted I would have expected him to have overwhelming relief but clearly whatever was going on between the two, this either made it worse or did not fix the problem.
