Page 27 of Derecho

“Huh. Alright. Well, now you can stay, and I could try making it for you.”

Her eyes went wide. “Nice try. I’ve heard your own confessions about burning water.”

It was my turn to smile. I could hold my own in the kitchen—Ma certainly saw to that with all her kids. But if Lainey wanted to cook, and it made her feel relaxed here, I wouldn’t say no to that.

We fell into a comfortable silence as I slathered on the ointment and applied the bandage to her skin. After I rolled the fabric of my sweatpants back down, I lowered her leg off my lap and grabbed the blanket I had draped over the back of the couch.

“You tuck me in and I’m going to fall asleep,” she yawned.

“No sleeping on the couch. It’ll kill your back, trust me. Hayes stays over a lot when he’s not on shift, and he bitched about the couch so much I put a bed in the spare room just so he’d stop complaining. That bed now has your name on it. Just figured the AC might make your feet cold while we talk.”

“Thank you.”

I cleared my throat. “Look, I don’t want to push, but…do you want to talk about what happened?”

Her eyes glazed over and she pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. “I deserved what happened.”

The tears lining Lainey’s eyes made my stomach cramp. Her left cheekbone was still swollen and red, and she reached up to run her fingers along it, looking lost to the memory of how she’d been hurt earlier that night.

One tear fell, and then another, but she didn’t break. Shit. I didn’t have tissues out in the living room, and if she was crying, I needed to make sure she had more to drink.

“Just sit and breathe for a minute until I come back from putting away the first aid kit. That’s a good thing to do when you’re pregnant, isn’t it?”

Her fingers swiped under her eyes as she looked at me. “I think it’s a general rule for anyone who’s alive…”

Smart ass. I’d never been more thankful in my life to hear someone sass me.

By the time I’d grabbed tissues from the bathroom, frozen veggies and a towel from my kitchen, then made my way back, Lainey had composed herself. She looked exhausted, and I didn’t want to push, but something in my gut was telling me to.

“Do you want to head upstairs?” I asked.

“Maybe in a minute. Could I have one of those tissues?”

My ass hit the sofa, this time giving a little more distance between us, and passed her the box.

“Thank you,” she said before blowing her nose.

“Don’t mention it.”

Lainey

Lachlan wrapped a bag of frozen peas up in a hand towel as my eyes dropped to my hand, where I was needlessly picking at a hangnail. It was going to bleed if I kept it up any longer. But my nerves were shot, and I needed something to fidget with.

“He promised me it would be different this time,” I whispered, not daring to look up at him. “That he got help and worked through his shit in the years we were apart. That he was older, and calmer, and in a place where he wanted to settle down and start a family. I’d been hinting at him for over a year to propose.” I held my hand up, looking at the pathetic reminder of everything I’d bought, hook, line, and sinker. I was a statistic now. One of the women who went back to their abuser. One of the women who almost didn’t make it out.

“I bought this ring. How pathetic is that?” The fingers on my right hand pinched the ring, wiggling it back and forth, trying my hardest to pull it off. I only wanted it for the money. It held no sentimental value to me now. I needed it off. I needed to be free from the weight of it. “He never wanted to put money toward it, so I saved and saved and finally told him I’d paid for it, and it was sitting on his dresser.”

God, I was pathetic.

“How did he ask?”

“He didn’t. I came home from work two weeks after we found out about the baby, and he was sitting at the table. The ring was at my spot, just tossed there. He said I could stop nagging him now. That he didn’t want to do anything before the baby came, but after, we’d talk about it. God, I need this stupid thing off!”

“Here.” Lachlan’s hand’s settled over mine. He paused, looking at me like he was waiting for permission, so I nodded. Slowly, he wiggled the ring back and forth, until it reached my knuckle, and finally slipped free. I sucked in air so fast, my head swam.

“Thank you.” The words came out breathless. Another thing I could sell to cover expenses. A small blessing among the mess of my life.

“Here. For your cheek.”