You've Got Male novel · Chapter 8 of 24

Chapter 8: The Shed

Kellen met me at the bottom of the stairs.

He took one look at my face and didn't say anything.

He just took my hand and walked me around the back of the bait shop.

The boat shed stood at the water's edge, tin-roofed and open at one end to the creek.

Inside, a single work light hung over a half-planked hull.

The wood smelled of cedar and varnish.

He shut the big door against the night.

"What did he do?" he said.

"He said he'd never give me a child."

I held my phone up.

I couldn't say the rest out loud, and I didn't have to.

He took the phone, and read the file name, and set it gently on a sawhorse.

"I don't need to hear it," he said. "I can see it on you."

"I've wanted a family since I was nine years old," I said. My voice shook, and I hated it.

"I wanted a house full of noise," I said. "Kids on the stairs, and Sunday dinners that lasted all afternoon."

"I know."

"You don't."

"Six years of sandwiches," Kellen said. "I know a woman who gives the last one away."

I laughed, and it broke in the middle.

He pulled me against his chest.

I put my face into his shirt and cried for the first time since the corridor.

He didn't tell me it would be okay.

He just held on, one hand moving slowly up and down my spine.

When I was done, I lifted my head.

"I don't want to be anybody's plan tonight," I said. "Not even mine."

"Then don't be."

I kissed him.

I meant it to be soft, and it wasn't.

I pushed him back against the workbench, and he came with me, tools rattling, his hands finding my waist.

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