I wish I knew.
It’s a relief when the call ends and I log off, flicking through our messages over the last few days. The few evasive ones we’ve exchanged at all.
I’m not one of those guys who loves a challenge.
I don’t believe in playing hard to get or dicking around with tone games over a screen.
When I want a girl, I go out of my way to get her—so long as she wants me too.
Until our fight, I was sure she did.
Which makes this frosty, one-word-answer, back-and-forth bullshit that much more bewildering and maddening.
Something isn’t right.
And it’s that certainty that has me dialing her contact.
It’s a nice evening out there, which means she’ll probably be coming home if she isn’t out with Grandma Lark, gossiping in the kitchen or helping the old lady tend her garden.
The phone rings, and I think she’s not going to answer until the phone clicks and a small voice that doesn’t sound like Lena answers.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Sass. Just wanted to check in.” I flick the pen between my fingers.
“I’m not dying, Brady. You don’t need to worry.”
“We haven’t spoken for days.” I try to ignore the bitter voice in my blood demanding answers, but I can’t. “Fuck it, you know why I’m calling? Because I miss you.”
There’s a shuffling sound, and her breathing sounds heavier, like she was just outside and now she’s coming in.
I bet my Grandma Lark theory was right.
“... I miss you too,” she says, but the words feel forced. “But I thought you were working? You said you had a busy week.”
“Just finished for the day. What are you up to right now?”
“Mm, just trimming some flowers.”
“With Gran?”
“How did you know?”
“My awesome powers of deduction. Also, where else would you be using your green thumb?”
Silence.
“Do you need me somewhere again?” she asks flatly.
My jaw clenches.
“No. I need us to talk about the damn elephant in the room.”
“Talk aboutwhat?”
“What’s eating you, woman,” I say, no longer trying to be calm. If she needs me to squeeze it out of her like toothpaste, I will. “Don’t tell me it’s nothing. We both know that’s a lie.”
“I never said that,” she admits.
