“Come back to bed,” he said.
“No, I have to go.”
He was blocking my way, every way I turned, and herding me back to the bed.
“Get out of my way!” I shouted.
“Where are you going to go?”
I made a split-second decision, “Mexico!”
“Mexico?”
“My money wil go further there. I could start a franchise, like a convenience store or something. I’l be the gringa queen of my vil age.”
I was stil trying to dodge him when his hands caught my h*ps and he held tight.
“Don’t tel Tex you’re gonna buy a franchise, he’l go bal istic.”
What he said made me stop and I stared up at him stupidly in the dark.
“What’s wrong with franchises?” I asked.
“They’re the death of America,” Uncle Tex boomed from the next room and both Hank and I froze. “Now, wil you two keep it the f**k down. The wal s are paper thin and you’re disturbin’ the cats!”
We both stood stock stil for a moment and then I started laughing. I couldn’t help myself. I laughed so hard I thought I’d crack another rib. I started to bend double but my forehead col ided with Hank’s col arbone. Stil , I didn’t stop laughing.
Hank, I noticed vaguely, didn’t laugh at al .
His arms went around me and my laughter quickly turned to tears again. I put my arms around him, I didn’t want to but if I didn’t, I wouldn’t have been able to stay standing.
Final y, when I’d gotten some control, I said quietly, “I thought he loved me.”
Hank’s body had relaxed when I’d wrapped my arms around him, but, at my words, it went stil again.
“I promise, I didn’t think I was in danger,” I continued.
He began to stroke my back with one hand, holding me with the other arm. Something had changed in the way he was holding me but I was too worn out to notice it.
“I believe you,” he said.
I swal owed because I knew he did and that meant a lot.
“Thank you,” I whispered, for like the mil ionth time that day.
“Do you love him?” Hank asked.
I nodded against his chest and the air changed again and, again, I was too exhausted to notice.
I didn’t mean that I loved Bil y now. I meant I had loved him, once upon a time when the fairytale could stil turn real.
I didn’t love him anymore. I didn’t hate him either. I just didn’t want him anywhere near me. I didn’t even want to think about him.
I stood there, in Hank’s arms, and let the tiredness seep through me.
It was like he felt it, he was so tuned into me, and he guided me to the bed.
I didn’t resist.