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“Hey, I was starting to think you got lost,” I teased, sticking my hands in my pockets to appear more casual as I approached her.
“Oh, no.” She raised her head but didn’t meet my eyes. “I was just checking on Lulu and didn’t want to be that rude person on my phone while everyone’s visiting.”
She sounded like she was telling the truth, but my gut said it wasn’t the whole truth. Still, it was concern for Lulu—not trying to catch her in a lie—that made me ask, “How’s she doing?”
“Good,” Sienna replied. “Her mom, son, and she went to Albany to see some cousins for the holiday, and she thinks they’ll stay there until Ralf’s been arrested.”
“So the police haven’t caught him yet?”
Sienna shrugged. “Lulu said that one cop, Perrault, called her yesterday evening to tell her they were still looking for Ralf, but that he’d either gone underground or completely left the city altogether.”
I suddenly realized she’d just shared more with me in this little exchange than she’d said to anyone since dinner, and I couldn’t, for the life of me, figure out why. I knew she’d been nervous about being here with my family, but I’d thought their clear acceptance from the start had eased those concerns. Unless someone had said something to her, but I couldn’t even think of anything that could’ve been misinterpreted.
“So everything’s all right?” I purposefully made my question vague, hoping she might either answer about Lulu or reveal what had her acting so reserved.
“Yeah.” She pushed off the wall and seemed to gather herself, lifting her chin defiantly. “Why wouldn’t it be?”
As she walked past me, I instinctively reached out, but she flinched slightly, pulling away just enough to evade my touch. It was a subtle movement, a mere shift of her body that, had I not been attuned to her, I might have missed entirely.
But I caught the fleeting flash of pain that crossed her face, and it struck me hard, echoing Drake’s warning that she would likely push me away. If she genuinely wanted me to back off, I’d respect that. Yet I refused to let her retreat simply because she harbored misguided doubts about our connection. I hadn’t officially called her my girlfriend yet, but I was more than willing to explore that possibility.
I realized I had finally found a woman worth fighting for.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Sienna
It had been almost a week since Thanksgiving, and avoiding Fury hadn’t become any easier.
After he dropped me off at my place following his family dinner, I claimed to have a headache. For the next two days, I responded to his incoming texts with one- or two-word replies before cutting communication altogether. I let his calls go straight to voicemail, deleting them without a second thought. I was honest enough with myself to understand that hearing his voice might shatter my resolve.
Work had been a nightmare. Since he was Gavin’s friend and everyone had seen Fury and me together multiple times, no one thought twice about letting him come to my office. So, I couldn’t hide there. He also knew all my usual spots around the club where I directed performances, which meant I had to change those up too.
I was just grateful that no one had asked about my erratic behavior, even though I knew they noticed. I wasn’t sure if the concerned looks Gavin cast my way were because he had picked up on my changes or if Fury had reached out to him, but either way, he hadn’t brought Fury up, and I was genuinely thankful for that.
Just the thought of Fury stung, but even that couldn’t prevent him from invading my thoughts constantly. Especially at the worst times. Like when I was supposed to be choosing new music and realized I’d gone through six songs without remembering a single one because my mind was too busy trying to figure out what features Fury and Rose shared. Or how Laila had to repeat herself three times about a costume order because I was lost in thought, staring at a candy bar and thinking about how the color had matched Fury’s eyes.
It was driving me insane. Crazy and miserable—what a delightful combination.
But I’d done the right thing.
I shuffled into the kitchen, yawning as I tightened the belt of my robe. I was halfway to the fridge to grab the milk when I noticed Vanessa at the stove, pouring pancake batter onto a pan.
I frowned. “It’s Wednesday, right?”
“It is,” she replied.
“I thought you had a meeting this morning.” I turned away from the fridge and reached for a mug.
“That’s next week. Which you’d know if you’d paid attention to our one-sided conversation yesterday. Or the day before.”
I winced. “Sorry.”
I stared at the coffee I’d just poured, debating whether adding sugar and creamer was worth the effort to retrieve either. Nope, I decided. It’d be better just to sit and sip the bitter liquid.
Vanessa’s sympathetic gaze lingered on me as she flipped the pancakes. “What’s going on?”
I shrugged.
