I continue to wash the dishes, pretending I’m unaware that I’m no longer alone. I knew I couldn’t put this off indefinitely, but I’m not ready. I need more time.
As an arm slips around my waist, I close my eyes. Lean back, allowing my body to go slack. Savor these last few seconds of “before.”
“Hey.” Jake kisses my cheek, then rests his head against mine. “How was your day?”
“Eh. I’ve had better. How about yours?”
“Same.”
“Why? What happened?” Concern has the water off, my hands empty, and me turned around all before I remember.
Jake’s focus immediately zeros in on my bruised skin. His expression turns pained as he curses.
“I’m fine,” I assure him. “It’s nothing.”
“It’s not nothing.” His eyes squeeze shut like he can’t even stand to look at me. Pinching his temples, he draws a shaky sigh and says, “I knew it.”
“You knew someone was going to rob the drugstore today? Next time, I wish you’d tell me.”
“Wait.” His hand drops, gaze meeting mine. “What?”
I nod.
“Which drugstore?”
“The one in Gator Glade.”
“And your face just happened to get in the way of a fist?”
“That, or the butt of a gun. I really can’t say for sure.”
Jake curses again as he reaches for me. His thumb brushes lightly across the purple shiner that’s already formed beneath my eye. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yes.”
“You’ve got to stop doing this, Cassie.”
A wave of heat ripples under my skin. I take a deep breath, trying to push it down, but I feel it gathering, rising, cresting, ready to unleash with the force of a tsunami. “Doing what?”
“Whatever you did that separated you from the people there who didn’t get hurt.”
“I didn’t have a choice,” I say tightly. “Some tweaker was knocking Mr. Johnson around.”
His eyebrows crease together as he asks, “The same Mr. Johnson who was the pharmacist when we were kids?”
“Yes.”
“What is he? Seventy-something? Eighty?”
I nod. “Do you understand now?”
The raised vein throbbing at Jake’s temple slowly sinks back beneath his skin. “Yeah, but I still don’t like it.”
“Well, neither do I.”
We stare at each other for a few moments in silence before he releases a heavy sigh and wraps his arms around me. I burrow against his chest. For the first time since we left the house this morning, the tension that’s kept me in knots eases. Then, I remember what he said when he first saw me.
“What did you mean by ‘you knew it?’”
