his eyes. “I’ll see you when you get home from work.”
I frown at him, but Becca’s here and I can’t talk the way I want in front of her. I walk over and tilt my head up expectantly. He smiles a little despite himself and leans down to kiss me tenderly. His lips are supple and warm, and I want more but can’t have it. “Miss me, okay?”
He nods once. “I already do, Rain. I already do.” He taps my chin with his thumb and then glances at Becca. “The apartment’s yours. There’s beer in the fridge and leftover Chinese, and James will be home after school. Did you tell her about James?”
“I did.” What’s wrong with him? His words are kind but his eyes are grave. “Be good,” I whisper pleadingly.
He doesn’t respond, probably because he’s going to be anything but good. I close my bedroom door and glance at Becca. She’s a sourpuss.
“I have to get ready for work.”
“Can I redo your makeup so you don’t look like you got in a fight, cried, and then tried to cover it up with makeup?”
After I wash my face we sit on the middle of my bed as she does my makeup. She’s an artist. She knows colors and brush strokes, treating my face like one of her canvases.
“You seem nervous.”
I stop twisting my hands. “I’m fine.”
“Hmm.” She starts on my lips, lining them and then filling them in with a deep pink lipstick. “There. You’re beautiful again. It was hard work.”
I stick my tongue out, and then I hug her, because I’ve missed her so much. “Thank you for coming down.”
She hugs me hard. “You were not yourself. Now I know why. He’s tall, sexy, and out running amuck. Is that why you’re nervous? Because Kent Nicholson is probably out with another woman drinking his ass off?”
My heart sinks. “He wouldn’t. He’s trying.”
“But you’re not sure.”
“No,” I admit. I sigh and slide off the bed, taking my shirt off as I do. I step out of my clothes and start putting on my clean uniform. “He told me I have to trust him. We have to start somewhere.”
Starting somewhere feels like we are going nowhere. There isn’t enough time for me. Putting a time limit on my trust, in this case a month, has left me trying to catch up.
What if this month gets us nowhere?
Chapter Nine
When I get to Oblivion I put on my happy face and pretend my life isn’t falling apart at the seams. I can sense it unraveling, and that I’m allowing it, because unraveling is all I can do. These outside forces are not my doing. They are uncertainty and truths colliding with the intent to rip me apart. While I’m away Becca’s plan to end this month before it even starts is slowly taking form. What sort of life will it be if she’s successful?
Picturing moving out of Kent’s house does a number on me. Everything I know starts to shatter around me. Going back to my life before him leaves me empty, the same way I felt when Becca left for school. Though I suppose I should be enough, it doesn’t feel that way. There will be no emotions, no breathless moments, no love making, and no connection. That connection breathes life into me. Who would I be without it?
I stash my things in the break room with shaking hands and enter the chaos. It’s surprisingly calm and all of the waitresses are on the clock. Sam and Sophie shoot me big smiles. I barely acknowledge Sam’s large, hopeful grin. I’m not upset with her. Trevor meant nothing to me. But he could have and I’m in a bad mood. She can’t continue to risk sleeping with men who are not hers. She already slept with Kent.
And he’s mine damn it.
I have one person in my life who means something to me. I want to add Kent to that list and make it two, but everyone else wants him on their list as well.
Anger unfurls inside of me. After I get my tables I make my rounds, checking in and taking orders. I make two of Oblivion’s famous cocktail, a black and purple mixture with liqueurs and vodka, and bring numerous mugs of the beer on draft tonight. As my shift progresses the craziness does as well. The minor lull when I started is over. Oblivion is in a state of insanity. I spend the rest of the night trying to catch