Page 88 of Unraveled

So yes, all of her belonged to him.

And he wanted her to know it.

Cara dug through the bag of fast food, pulling out a cheeseburger and fries, and setting her bare feet up on the dashboard. After cleaning up, she’d opted to kick her flats off on the floor of the car.

“Busy couple of weeks?” Gian asked.

She handed him over the bag. “Nothing unusual. Mostly boring.”

“That could be considered a good thing.”

“It could.”

“But?” he pressed.

Cara smiled a bit. “But I missed you, too, so that kind of sucked.”

Gian didn’t even bother to hide his grin. “Eat, love.”

She did, pulling out fries to chew on. Once they were gone, she said, “My mom killed herself, or that’s what my brother said.”

“Oh.”

That felt stupid to say.

Gian didn’t know what would be appropriate. An apology felt wrong, considering Cara’s feelings regarding her mother. She didn’t look entirely sad about it, but she didn’t appear to be happy, either.

“Are you going back for the funeral?” he asked.

Cara shook her head.

“Why not?”

“Her death is enough closure for me,” Cara admitted under her breath. “I don’t need to watch her be buried, too.”

“You could have called me.”

Gian heard the slight bitterness in his tone, though he wished he could have hidden it better. He didn’t want to be angry with Cara for asking that he give her space and time alone. It also wasn’t that easy. The longer it had stretched on between them with no word from her, the harder it had become for him to deal with it.

“There was nothing to say,” Cara said dryly. “Not about Serena Rossi, anyhow.”

“You could have called for—”

Cara glanced over at him, her knowing eyes quieting him instantly. “I wanted to call. Every day. Multiple times a day. Every chance I got. Whenever I looked at my phone. It didn’t get easier not to pick it up, but neither did watching the news, seeing shootings and hearing all the problems piling up all over the city. I had choices to make, Gian.”

“Like what?”

“Like if I wanted to keep doing this with you. Whether or not I was okay with what that might mean.”

He cleared his throat. “And?”

Cara unwrapped her burger. “I’m here, aren’t I? I called, didn’t I?”

She was.

And she had.

“The only thing that would make this food better is beer,” Cara said.