My mate walks right up and hugs her.
Danica wraps her arms around Bailey and singes me with a dirty look.
I need air. I need to shift. I need to rip a fucking hole in the sky with my bare claws.
Fuck! I can’t shift and run. I’m not walking away from Bailey. So I guess I’ll drop my clothes, shift, and pace the fuckin’ parking lot.
20
BAILEY
I blow out a hard exhale once he’s cleared the second door.
“You good?” Dani asks. “He had you cornered.”
I blow out another breath. “He’s…”
She waits.
I give my head a shake and move back to my desk and jam one of Stacy’s stuffed white chocolate and macadamia cookies into my mouth and take a big bite, the gooey white chocolate center oozing into my cheeks like sweet lava. I hold the opened box in Dani’s direction.
She takes a cookie and bites it. “Mm. Holy crap!” She seeks a chair like her knees have buckled before she takes another bite.
“Right?”
“Mm!”
“I know,” I agree after swallowing. “My awesome sister-in-law. Your awesome cousin-in-law. Coffee?”
“Please.”
After I’ve made her a coffee in my mug that has a book cart on it with lettering that saysthis is how I roll, we’re sitting together at my desk.
She says, “I just wanted to check in and see how you’re doing.”
“Not so hot,” I admit. “He’s right up in my space and it… hurts. I can’t talk about it. I… can’t face all of this and all that it means. I know I’ll eventually have to, but…” I can’t finish the sentence.
Not yet. I can’t let myself process this yet. I’m glad we got interrupted because I was cracking open and everything was beginning to leak out of me. And it was too much. I’m glad we were interrupted otherwise it could’ve sent me to bed for a week, wallowing in depression. There’s no time for that. I’m on a forty-eight-hour deadline. What I need to do right now is focus on getting that petition filled with signatures. I need to figure out the best way to frame my application for a law change.
She shakes her head. “He’s getting a good helping of some bitter medicine. Medicine he needs.”
“I just want him to go away and leave me alone with my heartbreak. I feel like I’m on the verge of major grieving and it’s too much, way too much, so I’m trying really hard to stop it from penetrating.”
She gives me a kind smile.
I add, “He can’t help it that he can’t be what I wanted him to be. So, no, I’m not looking to dole out pain. I just… I can’t think long term right now, but… what’s gonna happen after the three days are up?” I ask.
“We’ll have another meeting. We’ll hear you out and then we’ll talk about it behind closed doors weighing it all out before we act.”
I blow out a breath of relief. “So… I can avoid reality for at least another two days.”
“At least.”
I do my best to shake off my emotions. “On another note… are you guys making progress on helping my parents yet? I know you’ve got your hands full, I’m just so worried about them.”
Dani nods. “Aunt Mimi thinks she can help. She should be here in a few days. Couldn’t move her flight sooner or she’d be onher way here by now. Erica can’t just siphon it away, not only because it’d need to go somewhere and we don’t want that but also because she can’t trace it. She can’t mess with it.”
“No remote magic options?”