It was the first time he’d talked about doing anything beyond the next few days. “So you’re staying?”
He turned into the parking lot of the lodge. The big main building looked warm and homey against the gorgeous winter backdrop. He pulled around to the employee lot that led to the wing the staff lived in. “Why wouldn’t I stay?”
Frustration welled. It had been that kind of a day. She was in the midst of a bunch of possibilities, but with that came uncertainty, and she didn’t handle that well. She liked to know what was going to happen, what to expect. Much of her life had been spent walking a knife’s edge, and now she craved peace and stability. She wasn’t sure she could have that with Michael. She might not be able to have it with Ty. Her insecurities had crept back in all day. “I don’t know. Neither one of you showed up for lunch, and then you pick me up and you haven’t said more than a couple of words to me.”
“I explained that something came up,” he replied with a huff.
“We have two different definitions of explain,” she shot back.
He was quiet for a moment. “I think I might be having a grump.”
“What?”
He pulled into a space and put the SUV in park before turning to her. “It’s something Ty came up with to describe my brooding nature. I’m sorry, Luce. I ran into a problem today, and I needed some time to think about it.”
“A problem?”
His face went stony. “I don’t want to talk about it. It doesn’t involve you, and I would prefer to keep it that way. I’m sorry about lunch. I really am. I’m sorry I had to bring Ty into it. I would really like to go inside and maybe we can go to the café for dinner. Ty should be back soon. I thought we could have dinner and then maybe watch some TV. I already did all the paperwork for this weekend, and I made sure I’m working the same shifts you’re working. So we’ve got the whole evening free, and I promise not to grump.”
She wanted to tell him he could talk to her, that he didn’t have to shove down whatever it was he was feeling, but she rather thought what he needed was support more than anything. She believed that he felt bad about missing lunch, and he’d texted her rather than leaving her to sit there wondering or forcing her to get in touch first. She had to give him some grace. “Okay.”
He stopped for a moment, staring at her. “Just like that?”
“Just like what?”
“I didn’t show up for our date and now I won’t tell you why. Shouldn’t you be angry with me?”
Put like that it made her sound like a doormat. She wasn’t casually excusing everything he did. She’d considered how he’d handled the situation and how what he’d been through could change the way he behaved. Had Ty not wanted to talk about something, she would have poked him until he did because that wasn’t who Ty was. But Michael needed a different approach. “Did you skip lunch with me because you found something more fun to do?”
His face fell. “God, no. It sucked. It was a shitty, shitty day. And me not talking is…”
“You’re trying to decompress.” She knew that feeling well. “It’s okay. If you wanted to talk about it, you could talk to me, but I’m also not going to nag you until you do. Something bad happened, and you need to process it. Me forcing you or holding out until you give me what I want wouldn’t help the situation. It would make it worse. I care about you so I’m not going to do that.”
He stared at her as though trying to figure out what kind of game she was playing. “You’re simply going to accept that I didn’t skip lunch to hurt you and that I’ll talk to you when I’m ready.”
It was pretty simple and made her wonder what his other relationships had been like. “Yes. Michael, people who care about each other, they don’t withhold time and affection to get what they want. I’m curious about what happened, but I believe you when you tell me it’s not about me. I won’t hold our evening hostage until you talk about something you really don’t want to talk about. So let’s go in and have a nice night since we’re going to be working all weekend.”
She would have a long talk with both he and Ty about what Nate had to say. She would do it over dinner so they knew what to watch out for, and then she would pray nothing happened because Michael had just gotten this job.
He got out of the SUV and before she could follow him, he was already around to her side, opening the door and holding out a hand to help her down.