No Return (A Lee Smith Mystery Book 2) by Jay Forman

Author:Jay Forman [Forman, Jay]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Endeavour Press
Published: 2017-06-22T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWELVE

“I’m sorry, Jack.”

“Do you have any idea what that did to me? To find out that you’d lied to me?”

“I didn’t—” I stopped myself from going down that excuse path. “I should have told you that I’d changed my travel plans.”

He didn’t say anything. He just stared at me.

“And I’m sorry for the bitchy email. You didn’t deserve that. It’s just … I’m used to being free, going where I want, when I want, without having to answer to anyone.”

He raised his left eyebrow, but the rest of his face remained locked in neutral. “Is that how I make you feel? Like you have to answer to me?”

“No!” I was explaining it all wrong. Maybe because it was inexplicable?

“Lee, the last thing I ever want to do is stifle you. Your independence is one of the things I love most about you.”

I thought of the diamond padlock in the velvet box in my backpack. Why was I letting it freak me out so much? This was Jack. The guy who’d always been in my corner, no matter what corner of the world I’d run off to. He knew me; knew me better than I knew myself sometimes. And he still loved me. Unconditionally. Just as he’d done for over 20 years. Putting a ring on it hadn’t changed him.

“If the ring is making you feel that uncomfortable give it back.”

“I don’t want to.”

“I’m serious.”

Was he breaking up with me? “So am I. I don’t want to give it back.”

He tried to fight a smile and managed to keep his lips in a flat line, but his cheeks went up just enough to be noticeable. “Nothing’s changed, Lee. You’re my best friend. You always will be – ring or no ring.”

“That’s not true. Something has changed.”

His eyebrows lowered with concern. “What?”

“We went over two decades without ever having sex and now we can barely keep our hands off each other.”

“According to your email it may be another two decades before we have sex again.”

“I didn’t really mean that.”

“Which part? The bit about not having sex with Joshua or the bit about not having sex with me?”

I knew it! He had been worried about me being with Joshua. “I didn’t, I wouldn’t …”

“Relax, I know you didn’t.”

“You made that crack about Joshua being one of my good friends.”

“That was my version of a bitchy email. I shouldn’t have said that and I’m sorry. I trust you completely.”

I wanted to say that back to him, but couldn’t. It had nothing to do with sex. I couldn’t, or maybe wouldn’t, trust anyone completely. My trust had been broken too many times. It was the hidden scar that wouldn’t heal.

“We are going to have sex again, right?”

“Yes,” I laughed.

“Phew!” His Ewan McGregor smile, the one that pushed his glasses up to his eyebrows, spread across his face.

This was Jack. The man who always knew when I was sinking too far down into my own thoughts and knew how to pull me out with laughter.

I didn’t hear the door open and was surprised when Sara came into the room.

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