“You know why!”
“Okay, listen,” he soothed. “You know this is important. Just because he’s here, you want to start letting this stuff slide? For how long, Ally? How long do you want to hide this from him? Because if he’s going to stick around like he says he is, that’s gonna get pretty damn awkward, pretty damn quick.”
He knew her too well, which was more irritating than usual right now. Of course she wanted to hide it from Jack, why wouldn’t she? How could she convince Jack that she was in control after he saw her like this? And why the hell was Callum being so reasonable about it? That was her domain, damn it.
“The clock’s ticking,” Callum said, laying out the yoga mat on the floor.
She wished she could stand up and knock him out cold. Instead, she threw him a withering look and hoped he could read her mind.
Jack squirmed on the couch, trying to get more comfortable. He shot a glance at Ally, sitting on the other end of the couch. To all intents and purposes, she looked engrossed in the movie, but he suspected otherwise.
He turned back to the TV but the uneasiness in the air was impossible to ignore. They both liked this movie, that’s why he had chosen it. She had seemed happy enough to see him when he arrived but as soon as Callum had shown up, things had gotten weird. First there was the hold-up while they did whatever it was they were doing in her bedroom – he assumed some kind of workout or massage or something, judging by the yoga mat – and then Callum had left without saying goodbye straight afterwards. Ally had been withdrawn and moody ever since.
“Can I get you another drink?” he asked, trying to ease the ever-growing silence between them.
“No thanks.”
He took his time in the kitchen, grabbing another beer out of the fridge. He took a quick gulp, peering back out into the living room again. She had been sitting in the same position for over forty minutes, her elbow propped up on the arm of the sofa, head resting in her hand. She looked miserable. Maybe he needed to clear the air? If something was wrong, he would much rather know about it and try to deal with it. Pretending it wasn’t happening clearly wasn’t working, for either of them.
He walked in and sat down on the couch again. Reaching over for the remote, he switched off the TV.
She frowned over at him. “What are you doing?”
“Just hear me out. I can go if you want – I didn’t mean to just barge in here and make things all weird again.”
She regarded him cautiously. “You don’t have to go. And you didn’t barge in, either.”
He immediately picked up on what she didn’t say. “But things are weird, aren’t they?”
“I’m sorry,” she sighed. “I’m not very good company tonight am I?”
“If I’m over-stepping the mark, I’m the one who needs to apologise,” he said gently, “But has this got anything to do with Callum? Because everything seemed fine before he arrived. Did he say something? I thought we’d sorted that out, but if –”
“No, it’s not that,” she said quickly. “I think I’m just tired. Between the late night last night and feeling like crap today, I guess it’s taken more out of me than I thought. I don’t normally drink that much these days, and – anyway, I’m sorry.”
“I can understand that,” he said, attempting a smile. “And I’m guessing by the yoga mat, you had some kind of exercise thing earlier? Hangovers and exercise don’t usually mix that well.”
Something in her expression told him he had just made a huge mistake. His heart sank.
“I think we should do this another time,” she snapped, reaching around the side of the couch to pull her wheelchair over.
He should just collect his DVD and get the hell out of here before he made things worse, but he was reluctant to just leave things like this between them. She transferred over to her wheelchair, and he couldn’t help but admire her technique. She handled it the same way she seemed to handle everything else, with confidence and grace.
“I’m sorry I’m being such a bitch, I’m just tired,” she said. “I’m busy tomorrow night, but why don’t we try this again on Monday night? I’ll try not to be such a pain in the ass, I promise.”
“Okay, and you’re not being a bitch,” he said, forcing a smile.
“Yeah, I am,” she said wearily. “But to be totally honest, I’m just too exhausted to care.”
He took the hint and got up to retrieve the DVD from the player and pop it back into the cover. “Well, I’ll get going then. I hope you get some sleep and feel better tomorrow.”
Throughout the drive home, and long afterwards, he played the night over and over in his head. The one thing he couldn’t quite reconcile was what had made her snap at him like that. He had said something about hangovers and exercise. What was he missing?
CHAPTER 14
“Sometimes, you find yourself in the middle of nowhere. And sometimes, in the middle of nowhere, you find yourself.”
- Unknown