The Witness

body to Sunny. “It was nice to see you again, and to meet Plato.”
    She moved as quickly as she could, trying to judge the line between busy and running away.
    They’d charmed her, seduced her. The man, the mother, even the little dog. She’d let herself be swept along. Conversation, invitations, pie, sex.
    People had seen her walking with Brooks. Holding hands with him. Talking to his mother. And people would talk about it. Her.
    Just because she wasn’t part of a social network didn’t mean she was oblivious to how it worked.
    She couldn’t be the unexceptional, hardly noticed woman who lived
on
the fabric of Bickford if she became part
of
the fabric through Brooks.
    Why wasn’t he behaving per the basic male profile? They’d had sex. He’d conquered. Now he should move on to the next challenge.
    When someone grabbed her arm, she reacted without thought. Pure instinct had her swinging around, leading with a backfist fired by waist and hip, the follow-through of jab already primed.
    Brooks slapped a hand on her fist a half-inch before it connected, had to brace, push back.
    “Whoa.” He managed, barely, to block the jab as well. “Excellent reflexes, Xena.”
    “I’m sorry.” The simple trip to the market took on the quality of a nightmare. “You startled me.”
    “At least. Fortunately, my reflexes are pretty good. Otherwise I’d be sporting another bruise on my face.”
    “I’m very sorry.” She spoke stiffly now. “You came up from behind and grabbed me.”
    “Got it.” As if to soothe, he stroked a hand down her hair. “Baby, you’re going to have to tell me who hurt you eventually.”
    “Don’t talk to me that way. This isn’t going the way it’s supposed to. You had sex.”
    “I think that’s we, and yeah. Why don’t you clue me in on how it’s supposed to go?”
    “You’re supposed to go away.” Agitated, she pushed a hand through her hair, glanced around. “I can’t discuss this now, here. I don’t understand why it needs to be discussed. You’re not supposed to be interested now.”
    “For someone as smart as you are, you can be thick as a brick. I had sex with you because I’m interested. And since we slept together, I’m more interested.”
    “Why? No, don’t answer. You always have answers. You confuse me. I don’t want to feel like this.”
    “Like what?”
    “I don’t know! I need to go to the market, and I need to go home, and I need to finish my work, and—”
    “You need to take a breath.” He laid his hands on her shoulders now. “Take a breath, Abigail.”
    “I need to take a breath.” She closed her eyes, fighting the panic attack. Oh God, oh God, why hadn’t she stayed home?
    “Good, just take another breath. Take it easy, that’s the way. Now, here’s what we’re going to do.”
    “Don’t tell me what we’re going to do. There’s not supposed to be any
we.
”
    “Apparently, there is. How about here’s what I suggest we do? Why don’t we go over to my office. You can sit down, have some water.”
    She shook her head. “I have to go to the market.”
    “Okay, you go on to the market. Later, should be around six or six-thirty, I’ll come out. I’ll bring a couple of steaks and grill them up. We’ll have some dinner, see if we can sort this out.”
    “We don’t need to have dinner or sort anything out. I just need to—”
    Very gently, very quietly, he laid his lips on hers. When he lifted his head, her breath shuddered out.
    “I’ve got the sense that’s what you don’t want to feel. But you do, and I do. So we ought to sort it out.”
    “You won’t go away.”
    “Let’s see how it sorts out. If it comes down to that, I’ll go away. I’m not going to hurt you, Abigail, and I’m going to do my best not to make you unhappy. But when two people feel something, they ought to respect that enough to try to figure it out.”
    “You don’t understand.”
    “No, honey, I don’t. But I want to. Let’s get you to the market.”
    “I don’t want you to walk me back there. I want to be alone.”
    “All right. I’ll see you tonight.”
    One more conversation, she told herself, as she hurried away. One more where she’d remain calm and rational. She’d simply explain that she wasn’t interested in or inclined toward a relationship. Her work kept her too busy for the distractions of dinners and company and overnight guests.
    She would be firm; he would be sensible.
    They’d end whatever this was that should