There was a vicious red mark on her husband’s earlobe. It actually appeared to be…
“Is that a bite?” she asked.
“Hi.” Adam raised his hand to his ear but didn’t touch it. “Ah, yeah. The chief and I had words last night.”
“Last night? You were asleep in bed with me last night.”
Her husband studied her sneakers. “Actually, I went for a bit of a walk…”
“To the bar?” she asked, already knowing the answer. They’d been doing so well. Or she’d thought they had been. But happy husbands didn’t go out drinking and fighting on the sly at night, now did they? No. Though his father had died. Shit, talk about confused.
“Yeah, to the bar,” her husband said.
“Louise, why don’t we—” Christiana chimed in.
“Wait.” Louise didn’t even bother looking at the woman. Her husband had her full attention. “Explain this for me, Adam. Please. I really want to understand.”
“I wasn’t drinking. But I had some thinking to do.”
“You had some thinking to do. And how did that work out for you?”
The chief sniggered. She ignored him too.
“Adam?” she prompted.
He wetted his lips. “Good, actually. The chief and I… Well, we were just mucking around.”
Nathan Hillier cleared his throat and took a step closer. “If I may? These things do happen now and then, Mrs. Elliot. Men just need to blow off steam occasionally.”
She stared at the man in disbelief. “You tried to bite my husband’s ear off.”
“To be fair, I did crack one of his ribs, princess,” her husband said stupidly.
“Yes, he did,” the chief concurred.
These people—no, this whole situation. None of it made sense. It hurt her head. “Where have you been, Adam? Why are you late to our session?”
“Oh I put him in lock-up so he could think about things. I only just had him released.” The chief took one look at her no doubt cranky face and took a healthy step backward. “I’ll leave you two to sort it out now. I think that would be best.”
“And with all this thinking, did you reach any conclusions?” she asked her discomfited-looking husband. It was quite a feat. Nothing much seemed to spook Adam, but his lips were pursed and his gaze was all over the ground. “Adam?”
“Yes.” His eyes met hers. “I did.”
“Well?”
“I’m yours.”
Louise canted her head. “What?”
“I’m yours, princess,” he repeated. “A hundred and ten percent. That’s what I figured out.”
“Huh.” Her throat felt swollen and her eyes sore. She didn’t know whether to be mad or cry or what. “I see.”
Adam watched her steadily, his gaze not wavering in the least. He braved a smile. It turned into a wince when he remembered his poor, cracked lip. “So whatever we need to sort out, we will. Between ourselves. What do you think?”
“I think you’re going to drive me to drink.”
“Let’s get out of here.”
He held a hand out to her and she took it. Because what else could she do? She was crazy about him. “Okay.”
“But we still have—” the counselor began, and was silenced with one swift look from the chief.
“I’ll handle this,” Nathan assured them. “You two kids run along.”
Thank the gods.
The door slid open and she stepped through it with her beaten-up husband by her side. Maybe they would be okay. She wanted them to be okay. Yes, the situation was messed up, but their marriage mattered to her. He mattered to her. In truth, she hadn’t realized how much until he’d stood her up again.
They wandered side by side out of the beige office and into a busy hallway. There were lots of official-looking people striding to and fro in suits or the gray corp uniform. Rose and Taka waited at the end of the polished stone passageway. Not what she needed. Hadn’t today been enough of a trial already?
The woman’s face was tight with tension. Her hands worried the folds of her long, colorful dress as she watched Louise approach. Taka gave Louise brief smile.
“Hi, Louise,” Rose said. The woman gave a nervous grin but it quickly fell from her face. “Look, I owe you an apology for my behavior the other night.”
Louise didn’t know what to say, so she kept her mouth shut. That, and she’d kind of had enough surprises for one day.
“And I was wondering if you’d like to come to dinner with me,” Rose said. “It’s ladies night at Hali’s. You could meet some of the other wives. If you’d like?”