Chloe was intense in a way I hadn’t recognised in the brief time I had spent with her.
“Did she force you?” she asked.
“What?”
“You let her? Then the croissant is a gift: payment.”
“Payment?” I asked.
“So you’ll let her do whatever you were letting her do when she did that,” she answered, pointing at my neck.
“You think I can be bought with pastry,” I said, offended. “I’m going to leave now,” I told her, deciding the best course of action was to get as far away from her as possible. “Please, don’t follow me,” I added as I backed away until I had left the kitchen.
“I have more important things to do than follow you,” she said.
“Good to know,” I called from the entrance area, quickly pulling on a pair of sneakers.
Grudgingly, I did appreciate the croissant, finishing it before I reached the Pack House.
I didn’t see Cole at all that day.
I stayed up, listening for when she returned, but either she didn’t return or had been and gone again in the time I had slept.
The pattern repeated for days. A week.
She was avoiding me.
Again.
And I couldn’t stand it.
I’d enter the kitchen in the morning, and the pot of coffee would be warm like I had just missed her. I’d stay up as late as I possibly could, my head nodding heavy with sleep, and I’d been getting up earlier and earlier, trying to catch her in the act of sneaking in or leaving.
I was sleep-deprived. My undereyes were dark and drooping. I looked horrible.
I couldn’t take it any longer.
I wasn’t going to let her avoid me forever.
What was her plan? Avoid me until the National Assembly and have Darren—who I had been avoiding because all I could think about was Cole, and I didn’t want to talk about what happened—hand me back.
Back to Ashford.
Was that what she wanted? To be rid of me?
If it weren’t for the coffee pot, I’d assume she wasn’t sleeping at the house.
I was putting a stop to this.
I sat on the porch stairs and waited.
Waited against the cold, my jacket zipped up to under my chin.
Waited until I felt like a frozen popsicle.
Waited until I couldn’t feel my toes.
Waited until the presence of someone hovering above me woke me up.
