Night Whispers - Leslie Kelly [70]
Mitch heard another noise coming from the front of the house.
Quickly getting out of bed, he pulled a pair of sweatpants over his naked body. He didn’t know what the noise had been, maybe a car passing close to the house, possibly a horn blown nearby. But the creak had seemed close, and familiar.
Walking through the living room into the foyer, he saw a box and a piece of paper lying on the floor by the front door. He immediately realized what he’d heard creaking: the mail slot.
Kelsey realized she was alone when she started to feel cold. She shifted over in her sleep, seeking Mitch’s warm body, but found his side of the bed empty. She sat up with a start.
“Mitch?”
He didn’t answer. Curious, she got out of bed, slipped on one of his shirts over her head and walked toward the front of the house.
The door between the living room and foyer was slightly ajar. Kelsey walked to it and gingerly pushed it open. “Mitch? What’s wrong?”
She saw him squatting in the foyer, holding a long, thin box covered with gold foil that looked as if it contained expensive candy. Mitch rose to his feet, staring steadily at her. He slowly extended his arm, offering her the box.
“Mitch? What is it?”
He narrowed his eyes and held out his other hand. Kelsey recognized the pale-blue-colored stationery he held. She winced.
“Who the hell is ‘Your Knight’?”
Kelsey grimaced, then squared her shoulders. “Let’s go sit down and I’ll tell you all about it.”
Mitch didn’t appear to want to move, but finally he dropped the box and followed her into his living room.
After she’d told him the entire story, he stared at her in consternation for several seconds before speaking, “So, someone’s been harassing you for weeks, and you never once even bothered to mention it to me?”
Kelsey ran a weary hand over her eyes. What she really wanted was a strong cup of coffee or a few more hours’ sleep. He seemed intent on arguing. “Mitch, please, don’t get upset.”
“Upset?” he said with a bitter laugh. “That doesn’t quite describe what I’m feeling, Kelsey.”
She cringed.
He paced back and forth across the wood floor. His bare feet struck the surface hard enough to make thudding noises. “I’m angry and I’m hurt by this,” he explained. Kelsey heard the emotion in his voice as he continued. “Why didn’t you tell me? What on earth made you feel you couldn’t trust me enough to share what you were going through?”
“Mitch, of course I trust you. I just didn’t want to bother you with this.”
“Bother me?” he replied as he stopped pacing and stared into her face, his eyes widening in disbelief. “You think telling me someone’s stalking you is going to bother me? Good grief, Kelsey, I might be bothered if you said you didn’t get a raise you wanted, or were concerned about your ratings. This goes way beyond bothered!”
Kelsey shrank back in her seat at the outright anger in his voice. She hadn’t seen him this furious in a long time. She hated that she was the one who’d caused it.
“I thought you and I had something kind of meaningful building here,” he muttered bitterly.
“We do!”
“Obviously, we don’t,” he retorted. “People in a relationship don’t lie and keep secrets because they fear they’ll bother the other person.”
“I didn’t lie.”
“A technicality,” he snapped. “Maybe you never came out and said, ‘No, Mitch, no one has been writing me dozens of love letters, staking out the station and leaving me mystery gifts in my car,’ but there were plenty of times when we talked about your job that you could have come clean. And you didn’t. You kept your mouth shut, figuring I wouldn’t like it and you didn’t want to have to deal with that. Well, you know what? I don’t like it, and you do have to deal with it!”
Kelsey took a deep breath and considered her words, wondering how she could make him understand. “Mitch, look, bother is the wrong word. It’s just…I know how you feel about my job. I know you worry about me anyway. I didn’t want to make you feel worse. Things are going so well for us—I wanted to keep it perfect