stubbornness over the paternity test issue. And the sick puppy-like thrill he always got thinking of her. Giving himself a mental shake, he picked up the phone and read.
"Hey, I need some help. Just few minutes. Trying to get the last of the kitchen packed up."
"Where's Gordon?" He winced as he hit send realizing how that sounded. An email dinged into his inbox. Suzanne. His scalp tingled. Her go-slow approach, insisting they get to know each other as friends first before doing any more than the odd stolen kiss before cutting off physical contact – it was about to kill him. But he found himself anticipating the sound of her voice more than anything.
"I don't know. You said you were around remember? Never mind."
He sighed and hit "call" next to her name.
"I'm sorry." He ran a hand through his hair. He'd been saying that a lot to her. It was starting to get old.
"It's fine. Short notice and it's a beautiful Friday afternoon. Why would you stand around in my chaotic kitchen and help me pack?"
"I can come by in the next hour. But I, um, I'm busy later." Why he couldn't just say, "I have a date. With a woman I think I love" to Sara? The woman he knew he had loved, once.
"Oh? Suzanne?"
He blew out a breath. "Yeah."
"Okay. That's good. She's a nice person. Now that I know her as someone other than the woman who nearly killed my brother once upon a time."
"Sara," he started, then stopped. Sara's relationship with the woman he had developed a serious crush on was not his responsibility. "So do you still need my help?"
"No, I think I'll go for a walk instead. I'm getting stir crazy in here."
He heard her sigh and guilt flooded his brain again. "Sorry."
"Oh stop being sorry. I'm fine. Jesus. Seriously have fun tonight I mean it. I love the thought of you – happy. You deserve it."
"Maybe." He stood, needing to end the conversation before he talked himself out of taking Suzanne out altogether. How he had managed to find someone new in the midst of all this crazy fucked up mess with Sara he couldn't imagine. But, the thought of Suzanne's thick auburn hair, cut short recently, like a pixie cap, perfect for her petite frame, emphasizing her huge brown eyes made a low buzz thrum through his brain. "Call me if you need me Sara. I mean it. I'm not trying to be distant. You just caught me..."
She cut him off. "Trying to have a life. I'm sorry Craig. I'm such a selfish cow sometimes. I realize that believe me."
"It's part of your mysterious and infinite charm I guess." He grabbed his Ray-Bans and helmet and headed out into the unseasonably warm afternoon. "Seriously, call me if you need anything and don't do stupid shit like, whatever it is pregnant ladies do to bring on early labor. You aren't on bed rest anymore I take it."
She laughed and the sound warmed him, but in a way different than it used to. "No, I'm free to move about the cabin. Okay. Have fun and tell Suzanne I said hello."
****
"So, what's your major?" Craig lifted his beer and clinked glasses with his date. She smiled – a slow moving, lovely thing that made his face get hot. Damn he wanted her. He hid his grin by taking a gulp of the beer she'd brought. He had made reservations at a nice restaurant, but she'd called and insisted on bringing dinner over herself. Had a new beer she wanted to try out on him. So he'd showered, cleaned up his long-neglected condo and tried to relax, playing his guitar a while, then a video game. He ended up in the bedroom, needing to relieve some of the pressure he'd been building up over the course of the last weeks. For a change, the face and lips he pictured on his at the last minute, sending him over the orgasmic edge, were not Sara's, but Suzanne's.
When she opened the door, juggling a couple of growlers and a huge container of pasta, he'd laughed, given her a light kiss and they'd set up a picnic out on his balcony. His hands itched to touch her, but she had a big-time hands-off vibe today. He felt it. So decided
Learning to Kill: Stories