Overcoming Fear (Growing Pains #2)(72)

“Yeah, that’s always the catch. Just don’t let him have you until you’re sure he will stay with you.”

“How?”

“That I don’t know. If you can do it, though, you win. If not, you fail. Plain and simple.”

She had to throw fail in there, didn’t she? Krista thought miserably. She silently wondered if Cassie knew that was the magic word to keep her trying, or if she got lucky.

“And Krista?”

“Yeah?”

“He will freak out again, you know. Probably for the rest of his life he’ll get to a place that reminds him of a fight he overheard, or something tragic my parents did to each other and indirectly to him, and he will freak out. You just have to know that.”

“I told you before, Cass, I have my own demons, and they will haunt me for the rest of my life, too. It is what it is.”

“I know, I just wanted you to be sure—he’s no picnic. But he is a good guy, you know? I can’t speak any higher of him. He has his faults, but he is a good guy.”

“I know. That’s why this sucks so bad.”

“I know. Hang in there. I’ll try and see if I can play shrink from my end. Just don’t tell him you’ve talked to me, okay?”

“’Kay,” Krista was crying again.

“Hang in there,” she said again, sadness in her voice.

~*~*~*~

Cassie hung up the phone and swore. Two days. He’d only made it two days. He’d never derailed this fast in the past. Not even by half. It meant he was over-the-moon about her. It also meant he was probably sitting at home with a bottle of Scotch.

Cassie pushed his name on her phone and waited for him to pick up.

“What’s up, Cass? I’m kinda busy.”

Cassie got a thrill of fear. Sean sounded like he was planning on ending his life. She stayed calm. He couldn’t think she was ganging up on him.

“Oh, no problem. I just wanted to hear how the rest of the weekend went. Say hi to Krista for me.”

Sean’s breath hitched, but he said, “Sure. See ya.”

The phone went dead. Cassie looked down at it in trepidation. Another first, and not a good one. Sean was completely closing himself off. Cassie called Ray next.

Chapter Twenty

Life hurt. That’s all Krista could think about. How much her life hurt.

The edges of her being were still jagged from Sean’s rejection last night. They hadn’t been smoothed out by time. They hadn’t been buffered by a newly erected defense. They were sharp and splintered, ripping at her with each movement.

She’d said she would have no regrets. She now wondered if that had been wise.

In the office, staring at her email, she remembered the days when her Inbox had been empty. How could she ever have been bored? That possibility didn’t even register to her any more. Shopping online was a luxury she no longer had time for.

“Geegee!”

“AH!” Krista turned and stared at Marcus as he sauntered in.

A huge smile taking up his face, he sat down in front of her. “My, my, not real jumpy are we?”

“You do that on purpose,” she said with a wan frown as she turned back to her list of emails.

“What’s wrong?”

“Huh?”

“What’s the matter, honey? You look like someone died.”

A burst of tears welled up like blood from a fresh cut. She blinked rapidly, trying to read John’s now blurry email.

With a tsk Marcus was around her desk and wrapping her in his arms.

“Men suck,” he said as she cried into his sleeve.

“How’d you know?” she muttered, relishing in his simple act of rubbing her back.

“Honey, I’ve been there. Trust me, I know.”

“I have terrible luck with men.”

“We all do. You’ll find one. This, too, shall pass, dearest.”

“This is what people said after the last one passed,” Krista sniveled.

Unexpectedly, Marcus started laughing. “I know. I love that saying, but you’re right. One passes, you get over it, then it feels like you’re right back in it again! Don’t I know!”

He crossed back to his chair and gave her a minute to fix herself. When she was ready to stave off having to answer relationship questions that she knew he wanted to ask, she said, “What’s the deal with that email from John?”

“Which, honey?”

“He wants Sean and I to get our teams together. Since when do I have a team?”

“Get your teams together for what?”

Krista glanced at her email, “To go over everything.”

Suddenly Marcus was a lot less relaxed.

“What?” Krista asked, worried she was missing something.

“I have to get with Judy. Sean hasn’t been on my ass lately so I’ve procrastinated on a couple things.”

“Why hasn’t Sean been on your ass?”

“One, because he doesn’t know what he’s missing.” Marcus paused for dramatic effect. Krista couldn’t summon up the good humor to play along, so she just stared, waiting for him to go on. “And two, I don’t know. I thought you might…”

Krista shrugged and looked back at the computer, zipping off an email to Sean asking about this phantom team John was speaking of. “Don’t know. Been kind of in my own world, I guess. I haven’t…” She paused as a new email came in.