I shook my head. I closed the door as Josh left, and I returned to the lounge room where Clint was now standing. I walked right up to him and stood face to face. I went to talk, but Clint drew me into his chest, his arms wrapping around me tight.
“I’m so sorry Norah. Sorry for the way I acted and what I said. I love you so much and it hurts me to think something bad could have happened to you. I can’t even think properly right now because I’m so angry someone did this. If I ever find out who did this to you...I’d, I’d...” Clint breathed heavily. “I’m just so sorry. I love...”
I moved out of his clutches so I could stop him, mid-sentence. “Clint, I’m alright. Look, we both said and did things we shouldn’t have, but let’s just be adults right now and forgive each other. OK.” He shook his head, surprised at my ease to meet him in the middle. Admittedly, the guilt from kissing Josh and Samuel helped me to be very forgiving too.
“Really? You are not angry about the burlesque bar or Melanie?” Clint asked, pulling away from me and searching my face to check to see if I was being serious.
“Clint, I’m still not happy that you have meetings at a strip club. I thought that would be the type of information you would share with your girlfriend. I mean, not telling me just made it look...”
“Secretive.” Clint finished what I was going to say. He already knew how it must have looked and what I must have been thinking.
“Yes. Like you were hiding something. It just hurt me that you could do that again. And then I saw Melanie...” I didn’t want to bring up what happened in Morewell, but it was in the back of my mind like a warning signal.
“I didn’t know how to tell you about that place. I don’t want to go there, but I’m kind of forced to. And I know how it looked with Melanie, but I’m not cheating on you Norah. I swear. I would never cheat on you. You are all I want, and all I need.”
I could tell he wasn’t lying to me. His voice and his eyes said it all. He looked like a lost puppy, desperately seeking confirmation that I believed him.
“I believe you Clint,” I said, turning away from his face, now wondering whether or not I should come clean about kissing Samuel and Josh in my drug-induced state. Would it really help if I did? It didn’t mean anything, right? And what would Clint’s reaction be? I mean, there must be allowances for this sort of thing when you have absolutely no control over what you are doing. Telling Clint would start World War III, and with things already starting to crack in our relationship, I knew if I told him, the repercussions would be atomically explosive.
“So we are OK then?” he asked me, a small hopeful smile beginning to grow on his face.
“Yes,” I said. “I love you Clint.”
And I’m sorry for kissing Josh and Samuel.
“Oh Norah. I love you so much,” he responded with such overwhelming sincerity. “And I won’t ever go back to the strip club again.”
We held each other for a few minutes as we allowed everything to reconnect within our hearts and our heads. I sighed into his chest, feeling relieved that he wasn’t cheating. That was one assumption I could now happily push aside.
Clint pulled me off his chest so he could see my face. “Are you sure you are feeling alright Norah? Because I would really like to take you out for dinner. There is something special in the city that I think you should see tonight.”
I buried my face in his chest as the other problems now popped up in my head, reminding me that I was still trying to avoid reality. I had cheated on Clint while I was high as a kite; I was becoming more and more drawn to Josh, and I had just learned the name of someone who I think was part of the puzzle with that note. I knew the threads to this relationship were quickly coming undone and all I could do was hold onto Clint tightly, trying not to think about what was going to happen next.
I moved my head so I could breathe into his ear. “Yes Clint, take me