Waves

Part 29 Sneak Peek

Eve was deep in thought when Joe padded into the kitchen, Flossy in his arms. "I knew it was a good idea to keep the tower and litter box setup in the basement. Told you he should just live here," Joe joked, pulling her into a long kiss. "I'm willing to discuss joint custody. That's about it," Eve retorted.

Turning on the espresso machine, Joe wordlessly began making Eve a latte while she furiously typed; her furrowed brow and tense body language setting off alarm bells in Joe's mind. While he was thrilled to wake up to her in his bed, he was curious as to why Eve showed up to his house at dawn with the cat in tow.

Placing her latte and a plate of fruit down next to her computer, Joe pulled Eve's legs into his lap and cocked his head, contemplating his next move. "I was really happy to see you this morning. Startled, but very happy," Joe remarked, rubbing her feet. "Thank you for letting me sneak in. I totally should have called you first but I appreciate it," Eve replied.

"Why didn't you call me?" Joe asked, studying Eve's face. There it is, he thought to himself, that little eyelash flutter she always does when she's trying to hide something. Sipping her latte, Eve knew there was no way out of telling Joe but she still was trying to come up with a positive spin to mitigate the explosion she was about to witness.

With a deep sigh, Eve shut her laptop and took off her glasses, pinching the bridge of her nose as she launched into the explanation of everything that had transpired over the past 12 hours. When she was done, she looked up at Joe and prepared herself for his reaction, the silence in the kitchen deafening.

Standing up, Joe walked over to the sink and stared out the window overlooking the garden, still not saying anything. Eve's chest felt tight as she apprehensively walked over to him, softly reaching for his arm. To her surprise, Joe swatted her hand away, turning towards her with rage in his eyes. "Do not touch me," he growled, causing Eve to jump, "you're not going to explain this one away Eve. You waited 12 hours to tell me that someone has been watching you, watching us, and then you crawl in here thinking you can just give me some bullshit excuse about not wanting to wake me up? Are you out of your fucking mind?"

Eve was left at a loss for words at Joe's outburst as he stormed upstairs, slamming around his room for a few minutes before he reappeared in the kitchen with his practice gear. "Joe, I want us to talk about this," Eve pleaded, "I know you're upset and I acknowledge that I didn't handle this properly, but–" Joe held up his hand to cut her off, grabbing his car keys off the hook by the door.

"We talked about this after Erie. I said I couldn't do this again; that I couldn't deal with the stress of you putting yourself in danger and you swore you wouldn't do it again," Joe hissed. "Well technically, I didn't put myself in danger Joe. I had no idea about the fucking security system being compromised or someone watching me in my bedroom. Do you really think if I did, I would have let it go on?" Eve knew Joe was scared and coming from a place of love, but his outburst felt irrational; her brain too foggy to try and follow his logic.

"It's always an excuse with you Eve. You never mean to do anything but here we are, again," Joe snarled. "Honey, look, I understand that you're scared, and I fucked up by not telling you right when I got that text, but this is not helping the situation. Please just sit down with me for a few minutes so we can discuss everything." Eve's head pounded as she pleaded with Joe to calm down, but she could tell by the way his eyes had morphed into a steely gray that there was no reasoning with him in the moment.

"It's too late for a discussion Eve. You made a decision for the two of us, and you can own it. Now, I've got to go. I'd appreciate it if you were gone by the time I came home," Joe said cooly, leaving a shocked and depleted Eve in his wake.