Page 5 of Deadly Sins: Lust
“Yeah?”
“Do me a favor and breathe, okay?” I said. “We don’t know what’s happened yet, so let’s not assume the worst.”
It seemed like the right thing to say, but somehow, I knew it wasn’t.
CHAPTER 4
Cade met me at the door when I arrived home. “Where’d you run off to in such a hurry this mornin’? I came home to see if you wanted to go to lunch, but you were already gone.”
I leaned over and kissed him. “I had an appointment.”
He raised a brow. “Oh...kay.”
“I went to see Elodie.”
“The therapist?”
I nodded. “I texted her this morning to see if she had an opening, and she’d just had a cancellation so I went over.”
He walked into the living room and sat down. I followed.
“Is everythin’ all right?” he asked.
I wanted to say something, but instead, I nodded.
“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked.
I thought about what Elodie had said about opening the door of conversation, but right now, another door begged my attention. “I do, but I need a few minutes. During our session, Nick called.”
“Why?”
“His wife went to Australia for her friend’s wedding, and he believes she’s missing.” I filled him in on the details. “I’m sure she’s fine. Probably just a wild night out with friends.”
“You said she seemed like the innocent type when you met her.”
“She did, but I’ve only been around her once. Who knows what she’s really like?” The more I thought about it, the more I believed there was a plausible explanation as to why she hadn’t returned to her friend’s house yet. A few hours wasn’t long enough to warrant genuine concern. I decided to wait a bit longer before making calls, so I sat next to Cade. “I saw Elodie because I’m trying to work through what happened with Shelby.”
There. I’d done it. The door was open, although he didn’t seem too eager to walk through it. It was his turn to nod and say nothing.
“I want you to know I’m okay if you want to talk to me about anything,” I said. “Anything to do with Shelby, I mean.”
He pulled me close and wrapped his arms around me. “The last time I mentioned her to you, you walked away. Later I saw you on the back porch sippin’ a glass of wine, cryin’.”
I had no memory of it. “I wish you would have told me.”
“I figured you needed more time to process everythin’, and I understand. In some ways, I do too.”
“I’m just used to us talking through everything. It feels different this time.”
“You’re right. I’ve spent too much time wonderin’ if you could handle havin’ a conversation if I brought it up, and I should have just asked you instead.”
“I should have asked you too,” I said. “I’m glad we’re talking about it now. Let’s work through it together, okay?”
My phone buzzed. It was Nick. “Hey, I was just getting ready to make those calls.”
“She’s ... you don’t need to worry about doing that anymore ... I just ...”
“Nick, what’s going on?”