“Hey,” I said softly as I stood, hands outstretched. “Are you ok?”
He took several steps back.
“Talk to me,” I murmured. “Please.”
He shook his head. “I… I…”
“Randy…”
Another step back, then he turned and bolted upstairs. The bedroom door slammed a second later.
The jingle of Russy’s collar as he stopped beside me. I glanced down at him. “Do you know what’s wrong?”
Russy looked back at me with an expression as confused as I was.
I thought back to what I’d said before Randy freaked out. I’d let it slip that I loved him, then I’d called him beautiful.
It wasn’t the beautiful thing, I said that all the time. Which meant that ‘I love you’ had somehow set him off.
I took a deep breath and climbed the stairs.
The bedroom didn’t have a locking door, but I wasn’t about to barge in. I knocked softly. “Randy? May I come in?”
No answer.
“Please?”
No answer.
I leaned my forehead against the door. “Please, Babe. I won’t know what’s wrong if you don’t talk to me. I’m sorry if you were expecting some grand romantic gesture and I messed it up.”
No answer.
I sighed, turned, and slid down the wall until I was sitting on the floor.
Russy padded up the stairs, then over. His eyes flicked between me and the door.
“I know, Spud,” I said softly.
He pawed at the door and let out a soft whine.
“Can I let Russy in?” I asked.
No answer.
Russy stared at the door for a full minute, maybe two, before realizing that it wasn’t going to open. He let out a doggy huff and laid down, resting his head on my leg.
I ran my fingers through his fur as I petted his head.
The tick of a clock from downstairs, and soft pings from the woodstove. Wood creaks from the frame as the cabin adjusted to the warmth inside versus the cold outside.
Jessie had warned me that there was an emotional minefield, and apparently, I’d stepped on one.
Time passed. I didn’t hear Randy crying—which was probably a good thing—but hearing nothing at all from inside the bedroom wasn’t much better. An occasional gust of wind would make branches skitter across the side of the cabin.
Why wouldn’t he talk to me? It was clear I’d messed up, but I couldn’t fix it if I didn’t know what was wrong.
Annoyance started to curl through me as the minutes went on. I knew there was pain in Randy’s past, and I tried to avoid anything that could hurt him. But I’d learned more from his sister than him.
