Pieces of You(21)
I can feel Adam’s gaze on the side of my head, but I really don’t want to tell him what happened when the manager at EspressOasis, the café in the campus food court, called me yesterday.
“What happened?” he persists.
I drain the last few drops of water from the glass before I answer. “They can’t work with my schedule.”
“What about weekends?”
“I told them I couldn’t work weekends.”
“Because of me?”
“It doesn’t matter. I can find something else that will allow me to work weekends now that I know you’re going to be gone.”
“Why don’t you just call them back and tell them you can work weekends now?”
“Because they already gave the weekend position to someone else.”
The silence at the table and the way Adam is looking at me with those green eyes full of regret makes me nervous. Thankfully, he doesn’t say anything else about the job—until he walks me to my car.
We walk side by side as we stroll down Wilmington Street holding hands. He pulls my hand up and lays a soft kiss on my knuckles. I smile and let out a sigh. This is it.
We reach my car and he grabs my purse out of my hand to lay it on top of the car. Then he traps me against the car with one hand on either side of my head as I lean back against the driver’s side window.
His gaze penetrates me, burns through me as he searches my eyes for something. “Do you need money?”
“What? No, I don’t need money.”
Shit. He can smell the poor on me. The truth is I’m probably going to have to cancel my cell phone service if I don’t find a weekend job soon.
“Don’t lie to me, Claire. If you need help I want to be the one to do it.”
That’s what this is about. He doesn’t want me to have to accept help from Chris.
“Adam, I’ll be fine.” I grab the front of his shirt and pull him toward me so our lips are almost touching. “But I promise if I find myself in a bind that you will be the first person I call. You are my hero, after all.”
I kiss him hard, partially to distract him from the conversation, but mostly to imprint the sensation of my lips in his memory. I’m not stupid. I know Adam will have girls—hot girls in bikinis—chasing after him in Hawaii. Yes, it scares the shit out of me. Possibly more than Chris scares him. Just the thought of Adam with another girl makes me want to wrap my arms and legs around him and never let go, or drop everything and go with him.
I don’t want to stop kissing him, but he starts to chuckle so I finally loosen my grip on his shirt and he breaks the kiss.
“I’m not going to war. I’m going to Hawaii.”
“That’s not funny. I’m really scared.”
“Why? You don’t think I’m going to cheat on you, do you?”
“No, but it’s not you I’m worried about.” I stare at the wrinkles in the front of his T-shirt where my fingers were just clenched tightly, grasping for my lifeline. “Adam, I don’t think I’ve made it clear enough. I was drowning when I met you. I was barely breathing until you saved me. I’m afraid of what will happen to me without you here.”
The muscles in his jaw twitch as he clenches his teeth to hold back whatever emotion he’s feeling. I don’t want him to hold back. This is our last day together. I want to see everything he’s feeling.
“Talk to me,” I beg.
He blinks his eyes a few times before he wraps his arms around my shoulders. He kisses the top of my head as he squeezes me tightly. I bury my face in his chest and he finally speaks.
“I will never let anything happen to you as long as you’re mine. You know that, don’t you?”
I nod as I close my eyes and breathe in his scent and his warmth. “I know.”
“But I want you to know that if you ever feel like you need me to come back, for any reason, that I’ll hop on the next plane. I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure you never drown again.” He grabs my face and forces me to look him in the eye. “You put some kind of love spell on me with your wicked dance moves and now I need you like Paula Deen needs butter, or insulin, or whatever.” I laugh and he kisses the tip of my nose. “I’m going to miss the fuck out of you, but I promise this is going to be worth it. Do you believe me?”
I grab his hands to pull them away from my face and he looks disappointed. “I believe you, but I’m still scared.”
He reaches into his back pocket and pulls out his wallet. He slips a wad of cash out and attempts to hand it to me.
“I don’t want that.”
“I know you don’t want it, but you need it.”