“Saxon?”
“I’m here.”
“You have a plan?”
“Yes.”
“You’re going to end this?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
The call ends, and I stare down at the words on my phone screen notifying me of that fact.
I tear my gaze away to look at Kane’s face. “What does that even mean?”
“It means that Mount’s had enough. He’s ready for this to be over, and he doesn’t want it blowing back on Keira or the distillery.”
“So, what do we do?”
“Wedon’t do anything.Ihave it handled.”
That statement pisses me off. “It’s my brother who brought this down on everyone. I’m part of this whether you want me to be or not. And now my boss doesn’t even want me at work. Jesus ... how much more fucked up can this get?”
His gaze sharpens. “Put yourself in Mount’s position. Someone brings trouble to your door, threatens your woman and her work, you would do the same damn thing. It isn’t personal. Besides, you don’t even like your job.”
I jerk back in the seat. “What do you mean? I like my job.”
“You don’t light up the way you do when you’re talking about your art. You don’t smile in your office the way you do with a welding torch in your hand. You don’t laugh in that distillery the way you did when you were digging through a scrap heap and found that riveted sheet metal.”
Just like I realized before, Kane sees me.Allof me.
“Because art is fun. It’s notwork.”
“And yet you could be putting all your efforts into doing the thing you love to earn a living, but you’re afraid to try.”
I bristle. “I am trying. I have a sculpture to deliver to Valentina as soon as the universe stops getting in the way. But let’s be real—I have bills to pay. I can’t just quit my day job on the off chance that I’ll be able to make a living from art. I need a cushion first. A plan. A safety net.”
“Life doesn’t come with a safety net or a fucking parachute.” He shakes his head. “And it’s too fucking short to wait to go after something that makes you happy. We could’ve been hit by that truck last night—and you might never have gotten the chance.”
“So you’re the authority on my happiness now? On how I should live my life?” I unbuckle my seat belt and twist to face him.
“Maybe not the authority, but I see it more clearly than you do. Open your eyes, Temperance. See what’s right in front of you.”
I swallow and take a leap of faith. No safety net. No cushion. No plan. “My eyes are wide open, Kane, andI see you.”
His entire body tenses. “That’s not what I mean.”
“Bullshit. I call bullshit. You want me to go after what makes me happy—then that includes you. So, tell me, how is that going to work? Because I don’t have a damned clue.”
He looks away.
“What? No suggestions on how to live my life now that I want you in it?”
His response is deafening silence. I grab for the door handle blindly, blinking back the tears that spring to my eyes at the sharp stab of pain in the vicinity of my heart.
“Temperance. Wait.”