Tread

June 12

Leo texts me sparingly, but he still texts. It's irregular and short, but it's something. And in the back of my mind I realize he's busy—I really do! He runs a company, he has a kid, he has other things I probably don't even know about, but I still can't help feeling irritated.

"You gonna finish that?" Kate asks, eyeing the half-eaten tiramisu on my plate. We're back at the Wooden Spoon indulging in baked goodies on one of our rare days off.

"Yes," I snap.

Hands held up in surrender, she draws back. "Whoa, girl. Come the hell down, you're acting worse than mm-mm."

"Who's that?" Zora asks suspiciously as Kate manages to swipe my tiramisu and give me an apologetic smile even as she eats it.

I have a mind to yell "It's you!" right in Zora's face, but I bite a hole in my cheek and remain silent. Em reaches over and places a hand on my bouncing knee, looking concerned. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"PMS?"

"Nothing."

"That guy probably broke up with her," Zora supplies, hands skating across her phone as she messages Nick.

Bitch did not just say that runs across my mind, before I tilt my head and cast her a look I'm sure borders on murderous. Em squeezes my knee hard and draws my attention back to her. "Seriously, is it—What's his name?"

"Leo," I spit, even though I know I shouldn't be mad. I know that.

"Okay," she says slowly, sharing a glance with Kate that tells me the two think I'm off my rocker. "Did he do something or say something?"

"No."

"You have to give us more than one word answers if we're going to help you, Rai."

I swallow the growl inching up my throat and shoot daggers at my friends. "I don't need your—"

Blonde hair catches my eye out of the store front window of the cafe. I shoot up in my seat as the man walks slowly by, talking to a shorter, dark-haired man. It's Leo, looking frustrated and exhausted. His hair is high on his head in a messy bun, and there's a growing beard on his face to compliment the bags under his eyes.

Palming my phone, I send him a quick text, watching as he stops and reaches for his mobile. In an instant, his entire face changes, brightens, a smile playing at the corners of his lips. One handed, he moves his thumb across the screen's surface. My own phone buzzes in my hand.

Leo: Hey yourself. 12:13PM

Rai: What are u doing? 12:13PM

Leo: Talking with a colleague. Remember the one who went on vacation? I had him come here to set up a base of operations at my hotel. 12:14PM

Rai: So you're in ur hotel room? 12:14PM

Leo: No. I was starting to feel like a gremlin. Getting some fresh air. 12:14PM

I stride through the cafe as I text.

Rai: Where? 12:14PM

The man beside him says something that Leo waves off as he looks around and types. He doesn't see me until I'm right in front of him, cell phone vibrating in my hand. My body is strung tight with the need to throw myself at him. Maybe Em is right and I am PMSing. No reason why I should be acting like some wife he left two years ago for war or riches or whatever men leave women for.

Leo blinks, once, twice as emotions skate across his face. Well, emotion isn't right. The man isn't an extrovert, doesn't wear what he's thinking like a cloak. And maybe that's why I'm nervous and tension tight. I think I know what Leo's thinking, feeling, but maybe I don't. The slight tilt of his lips, the lone crease between his brows, the imperceptible tilt of his head. I look closely and try to read the moves, assign attributes that might not exist