Chapter 11: Against the Hallway Wall

Quinton stayed away from me for two full days.

On Wednesday he left for work before I woke.

On Thursday he sent a text that said only: Dinner at Odette's cancelled. Don't wait up.

I waited up anyway, in the kitchen, with a mug of tea going cold.

At midnight I gave up and went to bed.

At three I woke with my heart pounding.

I had been dreaming of the cake.

In the dream it hit the floor again and again, and every time I bent to pick up the pieces, the pieces were my hands.

I sat up, soaked in sweat.

I could not stay in that room.

I opened my door and stepped out into the dark hall in my T-shirt and bare feet.

Quinton was standing at the far end.

He wore a shirt and trousers, as though he had just come in from outside.

He had one hand on the wall, and his head was down.

"Quinton?"

He lifted his head.

His face, in the hall light, was raw.

"Go back to bed, Linnea."

"You've been walking."

"I have."

"For hours?"

"Go back to bed."

"No."

I crossed the hall.

I stopped an arm's length from him.

I could smell the cold on his coat, and under it the faint cedar.

"You've been avoiding me," I said.

"Yes."

"Because of the dinner."

"Because of what I did at the dinner."

"I kissed you."

"And I did the rest."

"Did you?" I said. "Tell me what you did."

He closed his eyes.

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