I want to talk to you about it. I really do. It’s a very significant part of my life, but then so are you now. I want you to know everything even the painful stuff.

Taking in a long and deep breath, Felix tried to shake off the irritation that he hadn’t even kissed her goodnight. He’d give anything to be able to do so now, and then he thought of something and began texting again rapidly.

I know this is a long shot and you’re gonna think I have a lot of nerve, but I hate that I didn’t kiss you goodnight. Any chance I can come by and fix that? I’ll make it quick, I promise.

This time he waited, refusing to take any clothes off or get in bed for over a half hour before giving up on her responding. For a long time, he lay there in bed, contemplating everything that had happened that night.

He’d screwed up, but, as usual, Ella had been perfect about it and had forgiven him. Was there anything about her that wouldn’t continue to impress him—make him that more fascinated by her? At this point, he didn’t think so. Even when he’d been such a jerk to her tonight, he expected her to do one of two things most girls would’ve done: been a blubbering mess and apologize profusely only making things worse, or told him off then tell him where he could shove his apology.

She’d done neither. It was like she knew him already. He just needed time to cool off, and on top of it all, she’d assured him she understood why he had reacted the way he had. She wasn’t holding it against him just like she hadn’t held anything about his past against him either.

Shaking his head, he slipped under his covers and exhaled harshly. There was no doubt about it now. Ella was going to make him fall hard—or maybe he already had. One thing was for sure. He definitely needed to make this up to her.

~*~

Ella

Ella squeezed the phone as she reread Felix’s last text. How she wished she could’ve responded as she’d wanted to. Yes! Yes! Please come kiss me goodnight!

“You know there are companies that can come out and clean this, Ella.”

Ella looked up at Grayson, who stopped and leaned against his truck now. She shook her head. “No, my brother and I can do the rest. I don’t need to hire anyone.”

“I’m not talking about the earthquake mess, babe. I’m talking about cleaning it all out. He got lucky this time; it was only a gash. He could’ve been seriously injured in there. You could have been.” He stared at her very seriously. “I worry about you, you know? It’s why I rushed down here the moment after it hit. It’s not safe in there, and we live in southern California. These earthquakes are gonna keep happening.”

She nodded. “I know and I appreciate your coming down here tonight when you did. If you hadn’t . . .” The thought made her shudder and she shook her head.

“You know I always will if I’m around and able to, but I may not always be available.” He smiled and she knew he was going to let it go—for now. “Okay, you’ve had a rough night already. I’ll drop it, but I really hope you’ll consider it. These same companies come out and clean up crime scenes. I know a guy who owns one of them. I can hook you up. They can get this done in a day. Two tops.”

She smiled, thanking him again, and then let him hug her goodbye. He’d squeezed her a little tighter than she’d expected, but it was strangely comforting. After the night she’d had, it felt good to finally breathe easily and exhale in his arms.

Afterward, she thought maybe she shouldn’t have let him hold her those extra couple of seconds. But under the circumstances, she figured it was the least she could do. Not only had he rushed her and her dad to the emergency room in his squad car, but he’d gone back, closed out his shift, and picked them up at the emergency room in his own truck. Then he came back and helped them clean up. It was embarrassing to say the least, but it wasn’t as if he didn’t already know. Though she did see the shock he attempted to hide when he’d seen how bad things had gotten since the last time he’d been in her place.

On her way back inside, Ella glanced down at her phone. She considered calling Felix now, but it was way too late. She was pooped. Grayson didn’t know the half of it when he’d said she had a rough night. After Felix had dropped her off at the gym, she’d finally let it out and cried most of the way home until she saw the squad car out front. Then sheer panic set in. Any and all thoughts of Felix and the photos she’d seen were gone.

It wasn’t even until after they’d stitched up her dad’s head gash that she noticed the missed calls from Felix. The relief was enormous. If he was calling her—more than once—obviously he’d calmed down. His apologetic text had eased the huge knot she hadn’t even realized still sat heavily in her belly.

Once in bed she thought about what Grayson had said. She and her dad had a talk in the emergency room while they waited. Bottom line was, like the first earthquake when they were left with a mess to clean, they’d been lucky no one had gotten seriously hurt, but too many piled-high things had fallen. It was only by the grace of God that the extra microwave that had hit her dad this time on the head hadn’t done more damage.

“It could’ve been Memo or me,” she’d whispered as she held her dad’s hand in the emergency room.

Ella wasn’t trying to guilt him into changing, but this was getting serious now.

“I know,” he’d whispered back. “I promise I’ll work on it. I just . . . I just don’t know that I can.”