Buttons and Grace (Buttons 6)

“She is?” I’d just finished placing the laundry in all the drawers and organizing the towels in the bathroom. Cane already picked up Crow, so she must have brought her own car over here. “I’ll be down in a second.”

I headed to the entryway on the first floor and found her standing there in jeans and a t-shirt. Instead of wearing that beaming smile I’d come to know her for, she had her arms crossed over her chest, and she looked over her shoulder like someone would sneak up on her any minute. “Hey.”

When she realized I was there, she turned to me and gave me a warmer greeting. “Hey, Pearl.”

“What’s up? Wanted to hang out while the men are away?”

“Something like that.” She put on a smile, but I could tell it was forced.

“Have you eaten? I was just about to sit down.”

“Yeah, that would be nice. Cane always says Lars is quite the cook.”

“Great.” I guided her into the dining room, and we took a seat. Instantly, Lars brought fresh bread, butter, a bottle of wine, and two glasses of water. He exited the room again, attending to the entrees that would be done any minute.

I took a piece of bread, and so did she. I couldn’t have the wine, but she helped herself to it.

“How’s Crow doing?”

“He’s restless and frustrated, but he’s good. Give it a little more time, and he’ll be back to his old self.”

“That’s good to hear. I know he’s been through a lot, and I’m glad he’s recovered so quickly.”

“I’m excited for it to be over. He’ll be happy to jog in the morning and get back to work. He’s not the kind of guy that likes to sit around and do nothing.”

“I noticed,” she said with a chuckle. “How’s the baby?”

“Everything feels the same,” I said honestly. “I get sick in the morning sometimes, but other than that, I don’t really feel pregnant yet.”

“Maybe you should go in for a checkup.”

“I will. I just wanted to wait until Crow was feeling better. I don’t want to bring him to a doctor’s office until he’s completely healed. And he wouldn’t want to miss it.”

“You’re right.” She kept tearing the bread into pieces without taking a single bite.

I noticed her fidgety movements and recognized that wasn’t normal for her. She was usually controlled and confident, engaging in conversation while holding my gaze. “Everything alright, Adelina? I get the impression something is wrong.”

“Something is wrong,” she said bluntly. “It’s Cane.”

I knew he was upset that she hadn’t said what he wanted to hear, but he would get over it eventually. “Yeah?”

“I told him I wanted to go back home. I have family there, and I want to go back to school…”

She didn’t need to finish for me to figure out exactly what happened. I hadn’t thought about her leaving. For some reason, I imagined she would stay in Tuscany with the three of us just the way I stayed with Crow. But she had a life to get back to. I didn’t have anyone. Our situations were completely different. She was a few years younger than me, too.

“He got really upset,” she whispered. “I mean, he completely changed into a different person. He said it was wrong that he’d done so much for me, and I was just going to walk away. He said he lost his business because of me. He said he almost lost his brother because of me.”

“He’s just upset. It’ll blow over.”

She shook her head. “He said he’s not going to ever let me go. He said I’m his prisoner now…that I’m indebted to him.”

It was hard for me to believe that because it didn’t seem like something Cane would say. When I first met him, I wouldn’t have put it past him to act that way. He hadn’t had compassion the way he did now. But to say something like that after everything we’d been through didn’t sound right. “I can’t believe that…”

She nodded. “I thought it would blow over in a few days, but he’s not letting up. He has a tracker in my arm, and he threatened me not to try to run. I sleep in my own room down the hall, and he doesn’t speak to me much. He just demands sex when he wants it…then goes about his daily life. We aren’t close like we used to be. He’s completely pushed me away, shut me out. I don’t feel the connection we used to have. We used to talk…to tell each other things. We used to make love. But now, all of that is over…he’s not the same. He snapped and turned into a completely different person.”

The piece of bread was still between my fingers, but I didn’t take a bite. I wasn’t even hungry anymore. Lars stepped into the room and placed our entrees in front of us, but neither one of us acknowledged him. It was quiet until he left the room again. “But he knows Crow and I would never let that happen.”